Spain and Germany renew battle in Nations League final showdown | OneFootball

Just for a moment, cast your mind back to that summer’s evening towards the end of July when Spain earned their first win over Germany. The illustrious newcomers (relatively speaking) needed the genius of Aitana Bonmatí and her 113th-minute goal to eventually break down the resilience of the traditional trailblazers and book their place in their first European Championship final.

Just four months on, Christian Wück’s team have the opportunity to avenge that night in Zürich, albeit in less distinguished circumstances as they battle for a trophy that carries less prestige. The second edition of the Uefa Women’s Nations League comes to a close this fortnight with a two-legged final between the holders Spain and Germany.

While that semi-final will remain fresh in the memory and there will be many similarities, this encounter exists in a different context. Germany are beginning to find constancy and success under Wück after several years of inconsistency when competing in the top echelon of the game.

When playing well, they have always been among the best but have developed an uncanny habit of producing abject performances that resulted in an ignominious group-stage exit at the last World Cup. Questions remained throughout this summer (a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Sweden did little to help) until their resilient quarter-final win over France signalled a turning point in their trajectory, the first sign that they had become the true definition of a team.

They breezed unbeaten through their League A group, winning five of six matches, to reach the knockout phase of the competition and held off a mini-comeback from France to reach the final. Ann-Katrin Berger has returned – albeit on a slightly delayed flight back from celebrating Gotham FC’s NWSL Championship win – after injury kept her out of the semi-finals. Fellow goalkeeper, Ena Mahmutović, is also back, as are defenders Rebecca Knaak and Sarai Linder. Goalscorer Lea Schüller, however, has been ruled out for family reasons with Linda Dallmann replacing her.

Spain, meanwhile, are at the start of that search for stability under new management. Sonia Bermúdez’s tenure kicked off in October with an emphatic opening defeat of Sweden catching the eye as La Roja continue to heal from the disappointment of the Euro 2025 final. The 41-year-old is aided by the clear style that Spain maintain and the quality of players available.

In this competition, Spain beat England on the final day of the group stage to secure progression before dismantling Sweden last time out. An intrinsic part to their midfield remains missing after Patri Guijarro suffered a stress fracture in her right foot back in October. Laia Aleixandri has filled in for club and country but is, understandably, a very different type of player. Bermúdez has called up nine forwards and joked: “As a former striker myself, maybe one day I’ll call up all 25.” The Real Sociedad forward Edna Imade is a new face in that area while Athenea del Castillo returns.

Personnel may have changed slightly but in terms of a game plan for both sides, it will likely be similar to their last outing. Spain will undoubtedly dominate the ball while Germany will look to remain defensively solid and try to hit them with clinical counter-attacks.

“It was a very close match [at Euro 2025],” Wück said. “We have to assume that we have little possession of the ball again. We want to make the spaces narrow and then play them along. We have to be consistent and aggressive, both defensively and offensively. Everyone has to help each other. Eleven good individualists will always lose to a team. We want to be the team.”

A key area of focus will be in the midfield. Against France, Sjoeke Nüsken and Elisa Senß operated in a double pivot. There is no question that they will have to be at their very best against Spain’s dynamic duo of Alexia Putellas and Bonmatí who love to rotate and create overloads and possess the ability to pull even the most stringent defensive structures out of position.

Germany’s best opportunities will come on the transition, attacking Spain’s high but relatively slow central defenders. In their Champions League draw against Barcelona, Chelsea exploited this weakness consistently in a defence that contains three national team players. Klara Bühl is in a rich vein of form with Bayern Munich, scoring four and registering 10 assists in the Frauen Bundesliga, and her second-half counter-attacking destruction of Arsenal in Europe was an illustration of how she can harm such a defence.

That the final will be played over two legs is a strange concept and adds a different dimension to the approaches of both sides. Inevitably, though, the advantage will be Spain’s, closing out in front of a partisan home crowd at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid as they look to secure back-to-back trophies.

Get in touch

If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email moving.goalposts@theguardian.com.

Header image: [Composite: Alamy]