Spain achieves a spectacular victory over Portugal to advance

Álvaro Morata scored a spectacular winner as Spain beat Portugal in Braga to qualify for the Nations League final.

Portugal needed just a point to progress and had chances to score, but Liverpool’s Diogo Jota and Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo both missed.

At the end of June, Spain will be joined by Croatia, Italy and the Netherlands, who are expected to host all the matches.

Portugal started the night top of Group A2 and will be wondering how they failed to book their place at next summer’s four-nation tournament.

They had won the inaugural competition in 2018-19 and were the better team for most of the game in northern Portugal.

An excellent pass from Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes was collected by Jota, who shot at goal but was denied by a good one-handed save from Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon.

The home side continued to create the better chances with Fernandes hitting the side netting and Ronaldo having a shot blocked by Simon early in the second half.

Substitute Williams, who plays for Athletic Bilbao, made the difference for Spain and had two efforts saved by Diogo Costa.

But the Portuguese goalkeeper was beaten with just two minutes remaining when Williams’ header went wide with Morata tapping the ball into the roof of the net from close range.

Spain finished as runners-up in the 2021 Nations League final and now have the chance to win the tournament in June.