Cristiano Ronaldo was overcome with emotion as Portugal won the Nations League final against Spain on Sunday. The match ended 2–2, but Portugal stayed calm in the penalty shootout and scored all five of their spot kicks to win the trophy. Ronaldo had scored during the game and was seen in tears as his team celebrated the hard-fought victory. Portugal twice went behind in normal time but twice fought back to level the scores.
Martín Zubimendi took advantage of some sleepy Portuguese defending to put Spain in front after 21 minutes. The brilliant Nuno Mendes levelled things up five minutes later. Mikel Oyarzabal, Spain’s goal scorer in the Euro 2024 final and the 2023 Nations League final, put La Roja back in front just before the break. Cristiano Ronaldo, quiet as he had been before scoring the winner against Germany in the semis, equalized with 61 minutes gone. He adjusted quickly after a Mendes cross was deflected into the air, muscled past Marc Cucurella and volleyed the dropping ball home.
Ronaldo was substituted before full-time with cramp. Although Portugal had the better of extra time, the match went to penalties. Both sides converted their first three spot kicks. Mendes buried Portugal’s fourth, before Morata stepped up and shot straight at Diogo Costa. Neves nervelessly converted in front of the red and green of the Portugal fans. The victory was just Portugal’s second competitive win over Iberian rivals Spain in their long history.
Portugal’s only other win over Spain in a competitive fixture was a 1–0 victory which knocked the Spaniards out of Euro 2004, with a 19-year-old Ronaldo on the left wing. Portugal became the first two-time winner of the Nations League, launched in 2018. It was Portugal’s third major title, alongside Euro 2016. While Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal’s fluid movement troubled the Portuguese defense early in the match, La Roja’s opener was scrappy.
Yamal chipped from outside the box and the Portugal defense froze, botching a clearance which fell to Zubimendi, who leathered the ball into the net. The goal was just reward for Spain’s early dominance, but Portugal hit back almost immediately. Mendes, put through by Pedro Neto, drilled a low shot across goal and in. Just before half-time, Spain picked Portugal’s pocket in their own half before advancing. Pedri linked with Oyarzabal, who threaded the ball past Diogo Costa.
Oyarzabal’s goal meant he has scored in three international finals, against England at Euro 2024, which Spain won, and the 2023 and 2025 Nations League finals, which Spain lost. Ronaldo had done little other than encourage the heavily Portuguese crowd until that point but would pick his moment to strike. With 61 minutes gone, Mendes shed a defender and whipped in a cross. The ball took a deflection and Ronaldo outmuscled Cucurella before lashing a volley home.
The goal was Ronaldo’s fourth in 10 matches against Spain, the previous three all coming in a wild 3–3 draw at the 2018 World Cup. Limping in the dying stages of normal time, Ronaldo fell to the turf with three minutes left and signaled to the bench that his night was over. Spain may have been confident when the match went to extra time, having won on penalties in 2023, but Portugal were faultless, Neves stepping up and converting to send his team-mates, including a hobbled Ronaldo, streaming onto the pitch.
