Seven things you might have missed from Thursday’s Uefa Nations League action | OneFootball

Thursday saw the return of the Uefa Nations League and there was a lot of action.

For the first time in the competition’s history there were quarter-finals for League A, with eight nations battling it out to reach the final tournament in the summer. There were also promotion/relegation play-offs for Leagues A to C.

All ties are two-legged, so this is only the first half. But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any excitement.

We’ve rounded up the best stats and stories from the night below.

Rasmus Hojlund makes an impact

Rasmus Hojlund has cut an isolated figure at Old Trafford this season. The Dane just hasn’t been able to get up and running for Manchester United, and his future is currently in doubt.

Confidence has been a big problem for Hojlund, with his lack of goals coming as a result of not taking many shots. He’s averaged just 1.57 shots per 90 minutes across all competitions, scoring eight goals.

In 2025, his goalscoring has been worse. The Dane has scored just one goal in 17 games for Man Utd across all competitions this year.

For Denmark, he’s scored one goal in 21 minutes in 2025. The Man Utd striker started on the bench for Denmark against Portugal, brought on to replace Mika Biereth in the 69th minute. It only took Hojlund nine minutes at the Parken Stadium to open the scoring, with what proved to be the winner. He’ll definitely be feeling the love.

Spain’s worst nightmare

Spain hate playing against Netherlands right now. The defending European champions haven’t beaten Netherlands in 90 minutes for 42 years, though that’s only a run of nine games.

The ninth game came on Thursday night, and Spain may have been favourites in some people’s eyes. But Spain will have remembered the pain Netherlands have caused them. Even with Spain took the lead, there might have been some part of them still dreading history.

And, Netherlands did come from a goal down to lead 2-1, though Spain scored a late equaliser. Netherlands still haven’t lost at home to Spain, with this their second draw alongside four victories. It looked like it was going to be a fifth win, but Jorrel Hato’s late red card gave Spain the impetus they needed to rescue the draw.

Lukaku ends drought

Romelu Lukaku is the all-time top goalscorer for Belgium, now netting 86 goals in 121 caps for the Red Devils. That’s a whopping 53 more than second-placed Eden Hazard — a record that may never be broken.

But he’s not had it all his way for Belgium lately. The 31-year-old failed to score at Euro 2024, blanking in all four matches as Belgium as a whole scored just two goals en route to a last-16 exit.

He was then left out of Belgium’s next two squads by Domenico Tedesco, who was trying to usher in a new era for the Red Devils — but clearly going the wrong way about it. Lukaku made it into Tedesco’s final Belgium squad, but blanked in a Nations League game against Italy.

It’s a new era for Belgium now, with Rudi Garcia replacing Tedesco. And Lukaku has started it with a goal. The goal itself was a pretty standard one, a good header from a Kevin De Bruyne free-kick, but this was about the moment.

Lukaku had scored for the first time in six games for Belgium, which is a long drought for a nation’s best-ever goalscorer. Unfortunately it couldn’t help stop Belgium’s rot, with the Red Devils losing 3-1 to Ukraine in their promotion/relegation play-off.

A night of missed penalties

It wasn’t a good night for penalty takers in the Uefa Nations League quarter-finals.

On any given day of football, you’re bound to get penalties taken and missed. But for there to be two in the four quarter-finals is something worth writing about.

The first came in Croatia’s RESULT against France inside the opening 10 minutes. Croatia were attacking the ball struck Ibrahima Konate’s hand inside the box. It was a weird handball for Konate, who looked like he had instinctively moved his hand towards the ball.

Andrej Kramaric stepped up to the spot but his effort was terrible. It lacked power and placement, with his weak shot down the middle saved by Mike Maignan.

Around 15 minutes later, in Copenhagen, Denmark were also awarded a penalty for handball in their game against Portugal. Renato Veiga was the culprit this time, with his hand in an unnatural position next to his head as he looked to block a shot.

Christian Eriksen was the man on penalty duty and his strike wasn’t too bad, but Diogo Costa kept him out with a good save low to his left.

Rare moment for Tonali

What a week Sandro Tonali is having. First, he wins the Carabao Cup with Newcastle United. And then he scores for Italy. Those two occurrences are of pretty equal rarity.

Tonali’s goal against Germany was just his second in 22 senior games for Italy. But if you look at it through another lens, this could be the start of a new era. Because Tonali has also scored two goals in his past three games for Italy.

The midfielder broke his Italy goal drought in the Uefa Nations League group stage, scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win over Belgium. His goal against Germany came in the ninth minute, arriving into the box late to place the ball home, after an under-hit Jonathan Tah clearance. But this game ended in defeat for Tonali and Italy.

Scotland taking advantage of second chance

Scotland were playing in the top tier of the Nations League for the first time last year after gaining promotion. There was pride at them being the highest-placed British team, particularly having watched rivals England get relegated.

But they were put in a tough group alongside Portugal, Croatia and Poland. Steve Clarke’s men took seven points from that group, missing out on the quarter-finals by one point. They did finish three points clear of Poland, but still had to go through the play-offs to fight for their spot in League A.

Greece are the opponents, having finished second in their League B group, behind England. They had won five of their six games, only finishing below England on head-to-head goal difference. They were favourites going into this tie, and perhaps may still fancy their chances to get over the line.

But Scott McTominay scored the only goal of the game in Greek to seal a big victory for Scotland.

Ireland pick up rare away win

Speaking of away wins, Ireland enjoyed themselves on the road in what was a rare victory. The Boys in Green have struggled when travelling, no matter who the manager.

Heimir Hallgrimsson’s men won just one of their three away Uefa Nations League games last year, and that was against Finland who finished bottom of their group without a point. That was the only away win Ireland enjoyed in 2024, though they only played four matches outside of Ireland.

But the poor record stretches back further than that. Ireland’s win against Bulgaria on Thursday — courtesy of goals from Finn Azaz and Matt Doherty — was just their fourth away win since the start of 2022. It was also the first time they’d come from behind to win a game June 2021, a 1-4 friendly away win against Andorra.