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The 2025 Nations League final takes place this evening as Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal battle Spain for silverware.   The footballing icon scored the winning goal against Germany that put his country one win away from a second Nations League title. La Roja are the reigning champions after beating Croatia in 2023, and the Euro 2024 winners are now aiming to go back-to-back. Spain came through an incredible match against France in which Lamine Yamal shone, scoring twice during a 5-4 win. Visit talk SPORT BET for all the latest football betting odds Mikel Oyarzabal has scored his fourth goal in the 2024 UEFA Nations League, a new career high in a single edition of the tournament. Oyarzabal has scored his fourth goal in the Nations League, netting for the first time since 23rd March 2025 against the Netherlands. He has contributed to goals in his last 3 games in the UEFA Nations League (3 goals, 2 assists). An entertaining contest is paused for the break, after three goals in the first 45 minutes in Munich. Martin Zubimendi and Mikel Oyarzabal, on either side of Nuno Mendes' strike, have La Roja on course for Nations League glory. 44' - LA ROJA RETAKE THE LEAD IN CONTROVERSIAL FASHION! Just before halftime, Oyarzabal brilliantly restores Spain's advantage, but Portugal are adamant Silva has been fouled in the build-up. Man City star Silva goes down under pressure from behind, but his appeals for a shove in the back are ignored as Spain play on. Pedri then drives forward and releases Oyarzabal inside the box, who reverses his finish across Simon with the deftest of touches. 42' - There's been plenty of fiesty niggly fouls without it being nasty - but there's definitely some tension between these two sides. 39' - Cucurella continues to be hissed and booed with every touch he takes, and attempts to counter by playing quick one-touch passes. A great cheer goes up when Conceicao hits him late from behind to leave him on the deck, but the Portuguese avoids a booking. 36' - Neto shows his blistering pace with a darting run to the byline before he stands up a cross. Simon has to watch as it lands on the roof of his net, having threatened to drop just inside the crossbar. 33' - Nico Williams wins a corner for Spain off João Neves, which allows Pedri to stand up a promising delivery. Portugal look uncomfortable defensively, but it just won't land for a Spain player in the box and is scrambled away. Neto leads a counter for Portugal and draws a foul from Ruiz, who is shown a yellow card. Fernandes takes a wasteful free-kick, however, with his overhit delivery sailing out of play. 30' - Andros Townsend told ITV: "Initially, good work from Cristiano Ronaldo. "You think they're going to work it wide, and he lays it off to Pedro Neto. "Hovering Nuno Mendes. That's a hammer. Low and hard into the far corner. There is no saving that! " 28' - Nuno Mendes has contributed to goals in his last 3 games in the Nations League - one goal and two assists. 26' - There was a question mark of offside in the build-up against Ronaldo, with suggestions it happened too early to be chalked off. After several minutes, the goal is allowed to stand, with VAR proving Ronaldo was onside anyway, rendering Spanish complaints moot. 24' - THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WINNER FIRES PORTUGAL LEVEL! ! It's good work initially by Ronaldo, who springs the offside trap to be released in behind the Spanish backline. He waits for his teammate to catch up before working it wide to Chelsea's Neto, who then finds Mendes inside. The PSG defender brilliantly takes it on his own, bursting into the box before firing into the far bottom corner. Spain have avoided defeat in their last 13 matches when scoring first in the Nations League, since a 1-2 loss to France on 10th October 2021. Portugal have a record of W2, D0, L1 when conceding the opening goal in the 2024/2025 UEFA Nations League. 20' - SPAIN STRIKE FIRST IN THE NATIONS LEAGUE FINAL! ! Oyarzabal's brilliant back flick takes Inacio out of the game as Spain's latest counter-attack finally comes up trumps. Yamal takes over and his cross causes an almighty scrap inside the Portugal box, before falling kindly for Zubimendi to tap home. Zubimendi has scored his second goal in the Nations League, netting for the first time since 12th October 2024 against Denmark. 18' - Williams fires wide of the far corner! Spain are really starting to warm up now, and that attack down the left once again proves Portugal's undoing. Williams cuts inside dangerously this time and whips a bending effort that has Costa beaten but can't sneak inside the top corner. 15' - PEDRI MISSES A SITTER! Spain cut open Portugal with a sweeping counter-attack down the left, it's pulled back by Williams inside the area for Pedri's run. The Barcelona midfielder has the time and space to open up his body and attempt to guide his shot into the far corner, but he pulls it wide. 13' - Yamal blazes over! The teenager once again demonstrates his confidence in both himself and his more senior teammates by stepping up to take. But on this occasion, he can't whip his left-foot around and instead sends a delivery high into the stands. 11' - Yamal drifts and dances his way between several defenders before being tripped on the edge of the box. Andros Townsend told ITV: "Spain are happy in these situations. "They're looking to drag men out of their positions. "It's fascinating to watch. " 9' - Ronaldo presses Spanish goalkeeper Simon into playing the ball out of play. The 40-year-old surprising fans with his early work rate off-the-ball. 6' - NEVES FIRES WIDE! Ronaldo drops deep to win possession back from Yamal before setting Neto down the left, who wins the first corner of the night. The set-piece is taken short and it catches out Spain, Fernandes crossing to the back post for Silva. He tees up Neves inside the box, but the latter's bouncing half-volley bounces wide of the far post. 4' - There's already been some bite to proceedings, with Cucurella shoving Conceicao off the ball. Yamal soon gets on the ball for the first time with a diagonal dribble but is swiftly dispossessed. 1' - We are underway in Munich. One of these two teams will be crowned two-time Nations League winners by the end of this contest. Spain boss Luis de la Fuente:  "We know how tough this competition was from the beginning, supported by data. "You don’t always come up against such good teams. Four of the best five teams in Europe are here. "This is a super-tough competition, very demanding, a lot of prestige, and it will be valued increasingly as time goes by. " Portugal defender Ruben Dias told Uefa: "I want to win the final, regardless of who we are facing. To reach a final, you have to be very good, and if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. "For me, though, it’s nothing more than a final that I want to win. With all due respect to the team we’re playing against. "At the end of the day, it will come down to who wants it more. Both teams are very good, but in these sorts of moments, I think it comes down to who wants it more – and we really want to win this final. " Both Portugal and Spain usually wear red, but it is Cristiano Ronaldo and Co. who will don their home strip, with La Roja in yellow instead. Germany captain Joshua Kimmich told RTL: "We should have been leading 3-0 after six minutes. "Then we went into the break a goal behind. "We lost patience too early and lost our structure in the second half. We made too many mistakes and gave them what they wanted. " Les Bleus boss Didier Deschamps added: "Mike [Maignan] was a fantastic last line of defence and he kept us in it at the start. "I thought the scoreline at half-time against Spain [2-0] was incredibly severe. I'm not going to sit here and lie to you and say that we deserved to go into half-time today in the lead, but it allowed us to go on and become better. " © 2025 talk SPORT Limited

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