Spain puts into play not only its crown of the League of Nations, but also its hegemonic position in European football against Portugal of Cristiano Ronaldo, this Sunday (7:00 p.m. GMT) in a final between the two Iberian neighbors.
“Cristiano Ronaldo is an example for everyone, always with great desire. This is an example of the way of suffering from being where, my personal admiration. As a rival, Portugal will be very difficult. I always say the same thing, but it is thus,” said Spanish coach, Luis de la Fuente, just after the exciting victory 5-4 on France in semi-final.
Because if CR7 is a living legend for its glorious past, the red stands out in recent years for its generational renewal, led by the teenager Lamine Yamal, appears in front of the French with a double at 17 years.
“All players have a lot of respect. It is a legend of football. I will do my job, that is to say winning. And that’s it,” said Yamal about the prospect of his first duel with Cristiano Ronaldo.
For the veteran Portuguese player, it will not be a personal but collective duel. “The press likes to say these things, it’s normal, but it’s really going to be a team against another team,” he said this Saturday.
The Allianz Arena pulse will also determine which country is alone in the lead in the palmaries of the competition, because in the three editions of this young UEFA tournament, there were three different champions: Portugal in 2019, France in 2021 and Spain in 2023.
For the Spanish, the lifting of the champion trophy would be the third closure of the season after having celebrated a title, because in addition to this League of Nations two years ago, red was able to take the Eurocup last year precisely in Germany.
In total, the team has 19 consecutive games without losing, the friend in which he fell against Colombia in March 2024. To find the last defeat in the official match, you must return in March 2023, before Scotland.
“I am ready to when the defeat arrives. When you win a lot, it is always closer to lose. Nothing is eternal, neither defeat nor victory,” he considered the source during his press conference this Saturday.
In front of him, Roberto Martínez, the Spanish coach of Portugal, hopes to surprise.
“On Sunday, we will try to make another match with the character and demonstrate how important this shirt is,” he said after winning the host Germany (2-1) in the semi-finals.
“Bob” Martínez aspires to his first title in Team Football and to give Portugal the third of the last decade, after the Eurocup-2016 and the first edition of the nuns in 2019.
But above all, the Catalan coach would obtain oxygen for his continuity in office, because before this Final Four was insisted with an upcoming replacement by José Mourinho or Jorge Jesús.
For Spanish sport, Sunday is excited not only for this end, but because a few hours earlier, in Paris, Carlos Alcaraz will play the duel for the title at Roland Garros against the Italian sinner Jannik.
The fact inevitably remembers what was experienced on July 14 of last year, when Alcaraz conquered Wimbledon on the same day that Spain was crowned in Eurocup.
Much more decamous despite the pedigree of competitors remained the other Sunday duel in the League of Nations, the conflict of the third position of the tournament, which will measure in Stuttgart (1:00 pm GMT) to local Germany with a France of France, before the prospect of the small physical problem.
– Probable teams:
Portugal: Diogo Costa – Semedo, Ruben Dias, Inacio, Nuno Mendes, – Vitinha, Bruno Fernandes, Joao Neves – Bernardo Silva, Ronaldo (chap.), Neto
Speaker: Roberto Martinez (ESP)
España: Unoi Simón (cap.) – Pedro Porro, Le Normand, Huijsen, Cucurella – Pedri, Merino, Fabián Ruiz – Yamal, Nico Williams, Oyarzabal
Consider: Luis de la Fuente (ESP)
Arbet: Sandro Schärerr (Su)
