Spain beats France in nine-goal thriller to reach Nations League final

Spain survived France’s late surge to win 5-4 in Stuttgart and reach the UEFA Nations League final, turning a semifinal into the competition’s highest-scoring match ever. The night swung from Spanish control to frantic resistance, with Spain’s camp treating the result as proof of a team still in command of its path and France forced to confront how quickly the game slipped away.

Spain led 2-0 inside 25 minutes and never really let go of the scoreboard. Nico Williams opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and Mikel Merino followed three minutes later, with Mikel Oyarzabal holding the ball up for the first goal and providing the decisive pass for the second. After the break, Spain accelerated again: Lamine Yamal converted a penalty in the 54th minute, Pedri scored a minute later, and Yamal struck again in the 67th to make it 5-1.

France finally answered through Kylian Mbappé’s penalty in the 59th minute, ending a seven-match international scoring drought, but by then Spain had already established a cushion that looked unassailable. Mbappé had earlier wasted a major chance, a miss that summed up France’s uneven night before Rayan Cherki scored in the 79th minute, Dani Vivian put through his own net in the 84th, and Randal Kolo Muani added another deep into stoppage time. France’s late rally made the margin respectable, not enough.

The result sent Spain to a third consecutive Nations League final, where Portugal waited on June 8, 2025. It also extended Luis de la Fuente’s remarkable run to one defeat in more than two years, a stretch that included the Euro 2024 title. For Spain, the reactions from Mikel Oyarzabal, Pau Cubarsí, Pedro Porro and de la Fuente carried the feel of a group convinced it is building toward another finish line.

France’s mood was very different. Didier Deschamps’ side was overwhelmed early, and the opening 30 minutes produced only the second instance in his 13-year tenure that France conceded twice that quickly. UEFA technical observer Rui Faria said France’s substitutions powered the comeback, but the response arrived only after Spain had already shown how ruthlessly it could punish errors and how hard it was to pull the game back once the damage was done.