The final of the UEFA Nations League takes place inside the San Siro in Milan on Sunday evening and despite the hosts not being involved we should be treated to a wonderful conclusion to the event as Spain take on France for the title.
This match pits together two of the most dominant sides in Europe in recent times, both of whom are accustomed to winning big titles which should ensure that this final is one of the highest quality in keeping with what we’ve seen from the competition overall.
Spain
There were certainly plenty of doubters regarding Spain heading into these finals, both from an injury point of view and a form one after they never really convinced anyone after the Euro 2020 tournament but they put all that to one side to dominate a semi-final against Italy and gain some revenge for their exit from that competition. In many ways it was a typical Spain performance in terms of controlling the ball but this time they were able to create enough chances to win the match.
There are still a few issues to work on moving forward for the Spanish, notably at the back where they look wide open and had Italy taken a couple of key chances early on in that semi-final it might have been a different match. They are going to be tested to the full in that department here so you would imagine they are going to have to be clinical to have a chance in this final. They have some impressive youngsters though and shouldn’t be written off.
France
We saw both sides of the French team which has been doing the rounds recently in their semi-final. We saw their open defence who are struggling to contain midfielders who run into the box but then we saw their dynamite attack when the shackles came off and they were allowed to thrive. The good thing for France is that there is probably more to come from their attacking unit, if only Didier Deschamps is brave enough to allow it to take the game to the Spanish here.
The real surprise over the last 12 months or so has been this France defence. They were usually so well organised and even though their attack is full of superstars they all had to buy into containing teams. To be fair that could only go on for so long because of the eliteness of the attackers they have at their disposal but to go from being relatively tight to looking like conceding goals in bunches will undoubtedly be a concern. As we saw in the semi-final though, they can outscore anyone should they need to.
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Team News
Spain are without the raft of players who were missing for the semi-final with Alvaro Morata, Dani Olmo, Gerard Moreno and Pedri among them but importantly Ferran Torres is expected to be fit even though he was taken off fairly early against Italy.
France have no reason to change from the side which came back from 2-0 down to Belgium in the semi-final but they remain without N’Golo Kante who is still isolating having tested positive for Covid-19 prior to this international break.
Betting
The trend is that major finals would be tight affairs but with these two defences I’m not sure this one will follow that pattern. Both sides were exposed at times in their semi-finals but if you go back to the Euros we saw both teams have some defensive mares and the attacking players on show in this game can expose those weaknesses in ruthless fashion. Going back to the Euros, Spain shipped three goals in that epic last 16 win over Croatia, while the Swiss put three goals past France in the same round.
I think it is fair to say that both these teams have much better attacking units than those two so goals should be coming along fairly regularly. I would imagine the last thing both these teams would want at this stage of a season is extra time so there should be a desire to go and win the game in 90 minutes and potentially risk losing going in search of the win. With all that in mind, I’m a little surprised we can get almost even money on a 2.25 goal line so I like the over at those odds.
Tips
Back Over 2.25 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.98 with BetVictor
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