Nine months on from the opening group stage matches, the UEFA Women’s Nations League comes to a conclusion with Mariona Caldentey’s Spain taking on Germany in the final.
The first leg will take place in Germany at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion on Friday, November 28, before Spain host the return leg at the Estadio Metropolitano on Tuesday, December 2.
Spain are defending champions after beating France 2-0 in the final last February, while Germany came third, beating the Netherlands by the same scoreline in the play-off.
GROUP STAGES
World champions Spain are favourites for the final, but it was Germany who had the better record in the group stages of this season’s Nations League.
After drawing 2-2 with the Netherlands in their opening game, Germany went on to win all five of their remaining games, scoring at least four goals in each of their five victories.
Spain arguably had a tougher group and lost their second game 1-0 to England, but beat the European champions 2-1 in Barcelona to secure top spot in Group A3.
Across her eight games between the group stages and semi-finals, Mariona registered five assists and scored in La Roja’s 7-1 demolition of Portugal on Matchweek 4.
SEMI-FINALS
Having navigated the group stages, both sides had to come through a semi-final tie against another group winner.
While Germany had the more comfortable route through the group stage, it was Spain who made easier work of the knockout ties.
Alexia Putellas and Claudia Pina scored twice each in a 4-0 first-leg win over Sweden, before Putellas netted again in a 1-0 win in the return leg; Mariona played the full 90 minutes in the second leg having played 88 in the first.
Germany had a tougher route to the final, despite winning the first leg of their semi-final against France 1-0 through Klara Buhl’s late strike.
In the return leg, the two-time World champions were made to work for their place in the final, battling to a 2-2 draw to scrape through with a 3-2 aggregate win over the side who knocked them out of the previous edition of the Nations League.
third place play-off
Alongside the final, a two-legged play-off will take place between France and Sweden to determine which beaten semi-finalist will finish third in this season’s Nations League.
France host the first leg at the Stade Auguste-Delaune in Reims on Friday, November 28, before the second and decisive leg at the Stockholm Arena in the Swedish capital on Tuesday, December 2.
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