The latest season of the UEFA Nations League concludes on Sunday evening when two Iberian rivals battle it out for the title when the defending champions Spain face off against the inaugural winners Portugal in the final in Munich.
These two both came through high class semi-finals in dramatic fashion and it would be a big surprise were we not to get plenty more drama across the course of what should be a very entertaining 90 minutes of action.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the ITV1 channel in the UK with the build-up to the final beginning at 7.30pm ahead of the kick off at 8pm UK time.
Portugal
Portugal were the first winners of this competition when they took down the title on home soil back in 2019 and they will aiming to be the maiden two-time champions over the course of the evening here. You get the feeling that this is a big night for them. They had fallen away from the attention of everyone after a disappointing Euro 2024 campaign last summer but will certainly want to be one of the frontrunners when it comes to the World Cup next year and a win here will remind everyone that they mean business.
Portugal came from behind to see off the host nation Germany in the semi-final on Wednesday night where they showed off their bench strength with Champions League hero Vitinha among the players to appear in the second period to turn the game on its head. Roberto Martinez rested a couple of his men who were involved in the Champions League final from the start on Wednesday but they should all be fine to start here, which makes Portugal an even more dangerous proposition.
Spain
We are not used to seeing Spain involved in crazy games of football but that is certainly what they got embroiled in on Thursday when they came out on top of an epic semi-final with France 5-4. To be fair to the Spaniards, they are so much more vibrant in attack these days and carry devastating quality in that area of the pitch that we might see them involved in high scoring games more often as the dynamic young stars of this side take it upon themselves to dazzle.
There are question marks over the Spain defence and they were exposed regularly in that semi-final on Thursday night but when you attack like they have the potential to do then that doesn’t really feel like it matters too much. You would imagine that Spain will be even stronger with their own men involved in European finals being available from the start here. This is all about informing the rest of the world that they are the favourites heading into the World Cup.
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Team News
Portugal boss Roberto Martinez left Champions League winners Vitinha and Goncalo Ramos on the bench to start the semi-final but both will be pushing for a start here. Rafael Leao is one of many attackers pushing for a start.
Fabian Ruiz was only on the bench to begin the semi-final for Spain but having had 72 more hours to recover from the Champions League final he is expected to start here. Dani Olmo and Gavi are others hoping to force their way into the starting plans.
Betting
We saw goals in both of the semi-finals and there is absolutely nothing to suggest we are going to get any different here. I think it is fair to say that Portugal are better defensively than the personnel that France had on the pitch when they faced Spain but they are still going to have their work cut out repelling this Spanish attack. Portugal aren’t like in the other areas of the pitch though. There is a case to be made that they have the best midfield in world football right now and they have more attacking options than Roberto Martinez knows what to do with.
That all points to goals for me. Finals in this competition have tended to be tighter than the semi-finals but with the attacking players on the pitch I think that trend can be bucked here. The question is how best to play that and I’m happy to go with the both teams to score and over 2.5 goals option. Were this to be 1-1 I don’t see either side waiting for extra time given that so many on this pitch are off to America for the Club World Cup in the coming days but this one could easily ignite into something special and have this bet covered long before the final whistle.
Tips
Back Both teams to score and over 2.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with Boylesports
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