When the moment came Cristiano Ronaldo hid his face and leant on his teammates. He scored the goal that put Portugal level in this final but had been withdrawn, exhausted, late in normal time and now, as the men left on the field lined up on the halfway line, he stood on the touchline where he could not watch but could hear the roar as Rúben Neves scored the penalty that took Portugal to the title, and then he slipped to his knees and the tears came. It had taken a shootout but they have their second Nations League, defeating Spain in Munich.
Goals from Martín Zubimendi, Nuno Mendes and then Mikel Oyarzabal had given Spain a 2-1 lead before Ronaldo made it 2-2 on the hour. Now, an hour after that, it all came down to two shots: Álvaro Morata missed Spain’s fourth spot kick and Neves scored Portugal’s fifth to win 5-3 on penalties, allowing Ronaldo to collect the 34th trophy of his career, aged 40. There was a smile, a joke about its weight and then he carried it to his teammates and lifted it into the sky.
