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Spain ended their 12-year wait for an international trophy after beating Croatia 5-4 on penalties. La Rojas who are now managed by former Under-21’s boss Luis de la Fuente won the third edition of the Nations League and are just the second side to win all of international football’s honours that can be won.

France were the first side to win all of the international tournaments when they beat Spain in the Nations League final in 2021. The Spanish were able to go one better at the expense of Croatia who have been this decades nearly men.

Dani Carvajal would be the match-winner, as he would score the winning penalty courtesy of Panenka.

Zlatko Dalic’s side were beaten finalists in the 2018 World Cup and beaten semi-finalists at Qatar 2022 (they would finish third). Now in the Nations League, again they fall agonisingly short.

The Croats have Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic, Matteo Kovacic and Ivan Perisic in their squad. This quartet and what they have achieved domestically is a testament to the talent that Croatia had in this generation, arguably this was their golden generation.

But if Qatar 2022 is anything to go by, Croatia boss Dalic did introduce new faces to the international set up and they were still competitive. The self-assured Zlatko Dalic who said he’s one of the best coaches around, to be fair to him, showed he is a very capable coach.

Congratulations to Croatia but congratulations to Spain who have won their first international trophy since Euro 2012. In the third place play-off match Italy won a five-goal thriller against Holland, hosts for the semi-final and final.

The semi-defeat for the Netherlands only increases the pressure on returning Ronald Koeman who has had a tough start in his second spell as boss.

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