Spain salvage streak with last ditch Netherlands draw in Nations League

European champions Spain salvaged their two-year unbeaten streak in the dying minutes of Thursday’s Nations League quarter-final first leg, denying 10-man Netherlands a famous victory with a 2-2 draw.

Mikel Merino broke Dutch hearts in the third minute of added time, to maintain an unbeaten run that now stretches to 22 competitive games.

The two powerhouses of world football meet again in Valencia on Sunday, with the winner of the tie to face France or Croatia in the semi-final.

The omens were good for the hosts, who had never lost to Spain on home soil, and could count on raucous support from a sold-out De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam.

But Spain also had good memories of the stadium, the scene of their 2023 Nations League triumph, where they beat Croatia 5-4 on penalties.

The visitors struck first, benefitting from some defensive fraility and deft footwork from star winger Nico Williams.

Barcelona’s 17-year-old prodigy Lamine Yamal dispossessed Jorrel Hato on the right side, finding club-mate Pedri who slotted into Williams in the box.

Williams effortlessly turned Lutsharel Geertruida and slid his shot past Bart Verbruggen in the Dutch goal to silence the orange hordes.

The hosts rallied strongly and got their reward on 27 minutes, the ball breaking for Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo who beat Unai Simon at his near post.

The equaliser galvanised the Dutch, who enjoyed possession and pressure, knocking the ball around with confidence and creating several chances.

The best of these fell to Memphis Depay, recalled after a spell in the wilderness and he found himself unmarked in the Spanish box but struck his shot straight at Simon.

An acrobatic strike from AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders grazed the Spain bar and it was the Dutch who went into half-time in the ascendancy after a free-flowing first period.

The Oranje took the lead less than a minute into the second half, Jeremie Frimpong breaking swiftly down the right and squaring accurately to Reijnders, who swept his shot into the left corner.

Gakpo came close to stretching the lead even further in the 59th minute but Simon got down to his stinging shot along the ground.

Spain manager Luis De la Fuente made three substitutions in a bid to exert some pressure on the Dutch, but Verbruggen was untroubled until the 70th minute when he had to react smartly to a ball deflected off his own defender.

La Rioja pushed for the equaliser with some intricate passing around the penalty box but lacked real penetration.

As pressure built, players on both sides became increasingly scratchy, culminating in a red card for Hato, who lunged at Robin Le Normand, catching his ankle.

That sparked a nervous last few minutes for the Dutch and the pressure eventually told.

Williams again harassed the Dutch defence, cutting inside from the left and releasing a shot that Verbruggen could only parry into the path of Merino for a tap-in.

Goretzka nets on Germany return to down Italy

Leon Goretzka marked his return to international football on Thursday with the winning goal in Germany’s 2-1 victory over Italy, which handed his country the advantage in the Nations League quarter-finals.

Bayern Munich midfielder Goretzka glanced home the decisive goal from Joshua Kimmich’s corner in the 76th minute as Germany came from behind to win the first leg of the tie in Milan.

Goretzka had last played for Germany in 2023 but was recalled to his national team by Julian Nagelsmann for the two matches with Italy, and it proved to be a wise decision.

The 30-year-old won Germany a tight match at the San Siro which had been delicately poised thanks to Sandro Tonali’s early opener for the hosts and substitute Tim Kleindienst’s 49th-minute header from another brilliantly delivered Kimmich cross.

Goretzka’s winner was his first goal for Germany since scoring the late equaliser in a Euro 2020 group fixture against Hungary.

Italy can consider themselves unfortunate to lose as Oliver Baumann pulled off some impressive saves in each half to deny Moise Kean and Giacomo Raspadori.

Sunday’s second leg will be played in Dortmund, a city which holds fond memories for Italians as the site of one of the Azzurri’s most famous wins over Germany, in the semi-finals of their victorious 2006 World Cup campaign.

More recently the Westfalenstadion was where Italy conceded the fastest ever goal in European Championship history, after just 23 seconds in their opening group stage win over Albania.

Whichever country wins the two-legged tie between Italy and Germany will also earn the right to host the finals stage of the Nations League in June.

Hojlund earns Denmark edge over Portugal 

Rasmus Hojlund earned Denmark a deserved 1-0 lead over Portugal in their Nations League quarter-final first leg clash on Thursday.

The Manchester United forward delivered from the bench to split the teams in Copenhagen, providing the finishing touch Denmark previously lacked on a night where they dominated Roberto Martinez’s side.

The Spanish coach selected veteran Cristiano Ronaldo, 40, up front but the Al-Nassr striker was mostly frozen out of the game.

Winners of the inaugural tournament in 2019, Portugal are aiming to become the first team to lift the Nations League trophy for a second time.

However they will need to improve swiftly to reach the semi-finals as Denmark outclassed them and could have scored more on the night.

Looking for their first win under coach Brian Riemer, who was appointed in October, the Danes were without injured captain Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

Denmark piled on the pressure from the start, with debutant Mika Biereth charging down Diogo Costa’s clearance, but the goalkeeper managed to escape with conceding only a corner.

Jesper Lindstrom forced Costa into action again with an effort from distance, while Pedro Neto tested Kasper Schmeichel at the other end.

The hosts won a penalty when Portugal defender Renato Veiga handled the ball but Costa produced a superb save to deny Christian Eriksen.

The Porto goalkeeper, an expert in saving spot kicks, dived low to his right to thwart the Manchester United midfielder.

Costa made another stunning save from Biereth to keep his team level, as Denmark turned the screw.

When the hosts finally beat Costa, Diogo Dalot was in the right place at the right time to clear Eriksen’s effort off the line just before the break, after good work by Gustav Isaksen.

Riemer’s side stayed on top in the second half, with Costa saving an Eriksen free-kick, although Vitinha came close for Portugal, who showed occasional flashes of their quality on an otherwise lethargic display.

Isaksen, a constant menace for Denmark, had a shot deflected behind as Denmark started to fear their dominance would not translate into a lead. However Hojlund, on as a substitute, had other ideas.

The striker, who ended a long Manchester United drought last weekend by scoring in his team’s win at Leicester City, broke the deadlock by slotting home to cap a fine move.

Eriksen spread the ball to another substitute, Andreas Skov Olsen, who picked out Hojlund with a low ball to finish coolly in the 78th minute.

Portugal’s Bernardo Silva, making his 99th appearance for his country, had a penalty appeal late on waved away after falling under pressure from Patrick Dorgu in the box, and Schmeichel saved from Neto in the final stages.

Portugal host Denmark in the second leg in Lisbon on Sunday.

Perisic stars as Croatia stun France

Ivan Perisic scored one goal and made another as Croatia beat France 2-0 on Thursday to seize the upper hand in the first leg of their UEFA Nations League quarter-final tie.

Perisic crossed for Ante Budimir to head in the opener at the Stadion Poljud in Split after the home side had squandered an early penalty.

With France out of sorts, Perisic made it 2-0 before the break and a Croatia side captained by Luka Modric saw out the victory to take to Paris for the return match on Sunday.

It was not a good night for France as captain Kylian Mbappe made his comeback having not featured in either of the last two international windows, in October and November.

Mbappe did have chances, notably seeing a deflected second-half shot from Ousmane Dembele’s cutback kept out by a fine Dominik Livakovic save.

The Real Madrid superstar has now failed to find the net in his last six appearances for his country, since scoring a penalty in a 1-1 draw with Poland at Euro 2024.

Les Bleus will now have to find a way of overturning the deficit at the Stade de France on Sunday, otherwise Croatia will be heading to the final four of the Nations League.

The semi-finals and final will take place in June and will be hosted by either Italy or Germany, depending on which of those sides emerges victorious from their last-eight encounter.

France won the Nations League in 2021 but suffered a first ever defeat against Croatia in the group stage of the following year’s edition.

This latest repeat of the 2018 World Cup final, won 4-2 by the French in Moscow, saw Croatia win a spot-kick just five minutes in.

Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konate was penalised for a blatant handball inside the area, but Mike Maignan saved Andrej Kramaric’s penalty after a long delay due to the goalkeeper having a laser pen shone in his eyes.

However, Croatia did get the breakthrough on 26 minutes as Budimir, who has 15 goals in La Liga this season for Osasuna, got in front of William Saliba to connect with a Perisic cross from the left.

Budimir’e header was blocked by Maignan, but the ball still spun into the net in cruel fashion for the goalkeeper.

It was 2-0 in first-half stoppage time as Saliba blocked a shot by Martin Baturina, only for the ball to fall for PSV Eindhoven veteran Perisic to fire in.

France made changes, sending on Dayot Upamecano for Konate at the restart and later bringing on Bradley Barcola for Randal Kolo Muani and Michael Olise for Dembele.

The latter spent more time on the right flank after the break having previously been deployed more centrally.

However, they could not get a goal back and now face a daunting task in trying to recover the tie.