Spain vs France LIVE: Nations League result, final score and reaction tonight
Follow all the post-match fallout live from the San Siro in Milan
France won the second ever edition of the Nations League on Sunday evening, coming from behind to beat Spain 2-1 at the San Siro in Milan.
Following Portugal’s triumph against the Netherlands in the inaugural final of the competition in 2019, another heavyweight clash decided this year’s winners, and both the Spanish and French certainly earned their spots in the showpiece match. On Wednesday night, Spain ended the remarkable unbeaten run of European champions Italy for a 2-1 win to avenge their defeat in this summer’s Euro 2020 semi-finals, while France battled from two goals down to overcome Belgium 3-2 in the last minute on Thursday.
Didier Deschamps’ side had to produce another comeback here, too, with Oyarzabal opening the scoring for Spain in the 64th minute, just seconds after Theo Hernandez had hit the crossbar for Les Bleus. The end-to-end action immediately continued, with Karim Benzema curling a stunning finish past Unai Simon from the edge of the Spain box to draw France level. In the 80th minute, Kylian Mbappe sealed the victory for the reigning world champions, a VAR check ruling that the Paris Saint-Germain forward was not offside – despite what many observers thought.
Follow all the fallout from the 2021 Nations League final between Spain and France, below, and read the full match report here.
Spain 0-0 France
16 mins: Spain have France camped outside their box at the moment. Luis Enrique’s side are showing patience on the ball and Gavi almost creates an opening after slipping a challenge from Kimpembe, but he’s then crowded out.
Mbappe goes down after receiving a knock and the match is paused as he gets back to his feet.
Spain 0-0 France
13 mins: Marcos Alonso was a danger for Spain against Italy but has yet to see much of the ball so far out on the left. Spain have had a good five minutes or so and are growing into the contest.
Spain 0-0 France
11 mins: Torres drifts in from the right and plays a smart reverse pass to Sarabia, who can’t get a good connection on his shot back across goal. It’s comfortably saved by Lloris.
Interesting to see that Torres has lined up at right wing rather than as a 9, which is where he scored his two goals against Italy.
Spain 0-0 France
10 mins: There is plenty of space out there for both sides to exploit. First Torres had a run at Kimpembe before Mbappe tried to take on Garcia. But both dribbles were closed off.
Spain 0-0 France
8 mins: Lovely play from France! They work it beautifully across the pitch to Rabiot on the right, but his cross from the right is blocked by a sliding Garcia. An early warning there for Spain, as Benzema, Mbappe, Griezmann and Pogba are combining nicely so far.
Spain 0-0 France
6 mins: First opening for France! Pogba slides a pass through the defence to Benzema - who goes round Simon but is pushed wide and can’t find Mbappe with the pull back. Benzema looked like he might have been half a yard offside, after Eric Garcia had pushed out early.
Spain 0-0 France
4 mins: France are pushing high up the pitch when Spain have the ball, and Luis Enrique’s side are looking to pass the ball out under pressure.
Spain 0-0 France
3 mins: This time it’s Pogba who draws a Spanish foul, which comes from Azpilicueta. Both sides are just testing each other out to start this match.
Spain 0-0 France
2 mins: Gavi catches Tchouameni with a late sliding tackle in midfield. That is set to be a interesting battle, tonight, with just four international caps between them.
Kick off! Spain 0-0 France
The much-loved “tiny football car” brings out the ball and delivers it to Mikel Oyarzabal, who gets us underway!
Anthony Taylor of England is tonight’s referee.
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