Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal win second UEFA Nations League title, beats Spain
Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal earned their UEFA Nations League title, following a victory over Spain in Germany on Sunday.
Ronaldo was in tears after his team won 5-3 on penalties. Ronaldo's 138th international goal scored in the 61st minute helped even the score at 2 and force a draw, which was settled in the penalty shootout.
Ronaldo left the game in the 88th minute, shortly before regulation concluded, due to an apparent injury. He was subbed out for Gonçalo Ramos.
Advertisement
Ruben Neves scored the winning kick during a shootout after Alvaro Morata had missed a costly attempt for Spain.
Martin Zubimendi scored the game's opening goal to give Spain the 1-0 lead in the 21st minute of the game.
Nuno Mendes helped Portugal answer quickly, scoring in the 26th minute off an assist from Pedro Neto.
Spain held a 2-1 lead at halftime after Mikel Oyarzabal added a goal off an assist from Pedri.
Cristiano Ronaldo kisses the UEFA Nations League trophy as he celebrates with teammates.
For Portugal, the victory represented its second UEFA Nations League final victory. Ronaldo won the first UEFA Nations League final in 2019 over the Netherlands, 1-0, on a goal from Gonçalo Guedes. France (2021) and Spain (2023) also have won UEFA Nations League titles.
Portugal vs. Spain UEFA Nations League final highlights
The biggest stories, every morning. Stay up-to-date on all the key sports developments by subscribing to USA TODAY Sports' newsletter.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal win second UEFA Nations League title
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Kevin De Bruyne joins Napoli following Manchester City exit
Napoli have confirmed the signing of Kevin De Bruyne on a free transfer following his departure Manchester City. De Bruyne announced in April that he would be leaving City at the end of the season after 10 years at the club, with his contract expiring at the end of June. The 33-year-old has now joined Napoli, who won this season's Serie A title. Benvenuto Kevin! — AurelioDeLaurentiis (@ADeLaurentiis) June 12, 2025 Antonio Conte's side, who sold Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to Paris Saint-Germain in January and had an approach for Manchester United's Alejandro Garnacho knocked back that month, have prioritised adding creativity to their squad this summer. Napoli have won two of the last three Serie A titles, with this season's success propelled by former Premier League players Romelu Lukaku and Scott McTominay. The Athletic previously reported Chicago Fire were one of four MLS teams — alongside Inter Miami, NYCFC and D.C. United — to have expressed interest in recruiting De Bruyne. De Bruyne's MLS discovery rights, which are held by Miami, would not have been a barrier for another team to sign him. De Bruyne did engage in discussions with Miami, but the club's three designated player spots are already occupied by Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. He has in the past also been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia and previously said he would be 'open to everything' whenever the next step in his career came, including remaining in the Premier League. Kevin is proud to be one of us! ✨ 💙 #ProudToBeNapoli | #ForzaNapoliSempre | #WelcomeKevin — Official SSC Napoli (@sscnapoli) June 12, 2025 De Bruyne joined City from Wolfsburg in 2015 and has helped them win six Premier League titles, as well as their maiden Champions League in 2023. The Belgian made 422 appearances for City, registering 108 goals and 177 assists. He was twice named Premier League player of the season, in 2019-20 and 2021-22, a feat only matched by three other players in the competition's history: Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nemanja Vidic. City confirmed last month they are planning to build a statue in De Bruyne's honour outside their Etihad Stadium. Analysis by Sam Lee There is an argument for De Bruyne being City's best-ever player as well as the best Premier League player. If any player of the most recent era is going to get a statue outside the Etihad to go alongside Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Vincent Kompany, it would be him. But this is also the right decision for both him and City, because it has become clear over the past couple of months that he is no longer the player that he used to be. Advertisement The story of that should only endear him more to City fans: he played the final months of the 2022-23 season with a hamstring on the verge of rupturing, but he battled through anyway to help the team. They won the treble, his hamstring giving way in the Champions League final. It went again a couple of months later and it seems that it has changed him for good; the effort is still there, but the quality not so. It has got to the stage now that he is not starting matches and nobody queries it, but that will not be his legacy by any means. It is only because his passing ability is so good that his assists will be remembered slightly more than his goals, but he scored some belters and some vitally important ones. He arguably scored the goal that kick-started the Guardiola era, slamming home with his left foot to seal a 1-0 victory at defending champions Chelsea in September 2017, a game that gave City belief that their new brand of football could be successful. Eight years down the line City have won everything, and De Bruyne has been integral to it all.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Barcelona defender set for surgery after injury on international duty
Barcelona have been relatively injury-free over the course of the season, but saw two of their players go down on international duty at the under-21 Euros on the opening day of competition. One of them is set for surgery. Spain were up against the hosts Slovakia on Wednesday, and after going 2-0 up in the opening 20 minutes, were forced to find a late winner through Cesar Tarrega after Slovakia had mounted a second-half comeback. La Rojita will face Italy and Romania in their remaining group games. Gerard Martin set for surgery Barcelona have two players with Spain at the tournament, with Gerard Martin and Pablo Torre both starting. Both were performing well, but would not make it to the end of the match due to injury, with Martin coming off at half-time, and Torre taken off 13 minutes into the second half. Image via Sport. Advertisement Martin had suffered a hand injury, and Jijantes report that he has suffered a break. The 23-year-old has flown back to Barcelona to undergo surgery – it is not yet clear how long he will be out for. The fact that he has left the Spain camp for surgery suggests his tournament with the under-21 side could be over though. Meanwhile Torre came off with muscle discomfort, and so far there has been no update on his injury either. Doubts about future Martin enjoyed a decent debut campaign for Barcelona under Hansi Flick, and was set to be Alejandro Balde's alternative next year too. Yet following interest from the Premier League, with three teams looking at him, it has emerged that the Blaugrana would be willing to cash in on Martin. The asking price is reportedly €12m. As a result, Barcelona are now on the lookout for potential left-back opportunities on the transfer market, should an offer for Martin arrive. Bayer Leverkusen's Alejandro Grimaldo has voiced a desire to return to the Blaugrana.
New York Times
5 hours ago
- New York Times
Is Mikel Arteta's intensity wearing Arsenal down?
Arsenal's transformation under Mikel Arteta has been undeniable. After finishing eighth in the Premier League in his first two seasons following his appointment in December 2019, Arteta guided them to fifth in 2021–22 and then to three consecutive runner-up finishes. In 2024–25, the 43-year-old Spaniard also led Arsenal to their first Champions League semi-final since 2009, where they were beaten 3–1 on aggregate by eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain. Advertisement Like many top managers, Arteta is known for his intensity. But after another season of missed opportunities where Arsenal's league form tailed off late on, is that intensity wearing his side down? This was one listener's question that Ian Stone, Adrian Clarke and Art de Roché delved into on the latest episode of Handbrake Off. A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available to listen to via the Handbrake Off feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Ian: This question is from Richard (listener) who asked, 'Do you think Mikel Arteta's intensity has led to squad fatigue? They can't even have a relaxing dinner together without a pickpocket stealing their things.' If you don't know the context of that, you really need to look it up. But Adrian, do you think his intensity has led to squad fatigue? Adrian: I wouldn't say that's an issue, although mental fatigue is a thing. I do think that if you have an intense manager and someone who does a lot of talking, you do need to have something tangible at the end of it sooner rather than later. So there is a bit of pressure now on Arteta to deliver trophies because if you're listening to the same guy giving you team talks year in and year out, but you're not winning stuff, sooner or later there is a danger that some might stop listening. Or they may stop listening as intently, and not have that same level of buy-in, so there is a threat of that. But I don't see it as being a problem in the here and now. That's why it's so important that you refresh the squad each year with new faces, and faces that are really into what the manager is saying. That can then be really infectious, and it rubs back off on the players, and together as a group they maintain that total buy-in. That can be the same with staff members, because certain managers who stay at clubs for a long time do refresh their backroom team. That's something maybe to consider if not this year, next year, just to have a fresh voice. I do think that's important, especially if you haven't got over the line yet and you haven't climbed that mountain. But we don't know what goes on behind the scenes. I'm pretty sure that they get plenty of downtime and can also have a laugh. I'm sure Arteta's not always on them, we don't see all of that, but I'm sure they have plenty of laughs and time off. Advertisement Ian: Art anything to add to that? I agree with you Adrian that we don't know what's going on behind the scenes. There's no doubt Arteta's intense, and Ethan Nwaneri touched on that when you spoke to him Art, but it's not like he's on them 24 hours a day. I remember Man United's young players talking about when Sir Alex Ferguson was on the phone asking, 'Where are you? Why aren't you home yet?' And all that stuff. But that's what you need, you need full focus. It's not like we haven't played great the last few years, we're just trying to get over the line. Art: Yeah definitely, and what Adrian said about refreshing things is quite interesting as well. The manager that actually came to my mind was Sir Alex Ferguson when Adrian mentioned the backroom staff. I remember he changed his assistant manager every few seasons, and it seemed to work quite well. But also if we talk about just general fatigue in terms of fitness, I think that's where the squad building comes into it as well. Because if you look at the last couple of seasons, and I know we've spoken about it before, the knock-on effect of having one injury means that one player might have to play a lot more than expected. We've seen it at right-back with Ben White and Jurrien Timber, where Timber's ACL injury meant White had to play a lot more minutes than expected that season, and it came back to haunt him. Ian: So you think that affected him the year after with the injury? Art: Yeah potentially because he ended up playing pretty much all the minutes, so all of that factors into it too. There's physical fatigue alongside mental fatigue as well. But hopefully, a lot of these players without the Club World Cup and no real men's international tournament this summer get a good rest. Remember, can listen to full episodes of Handbrake Off for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. (Top Photo:)
