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Portugal Star Player Sends Message to Spain Ahead of Big Final on Sunday

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Marcelo Cartaxo | Last updated Jun 6, 2025 7:28 PM ET

The UEFA Nations League final between Portugal and Spain will feature some of the best players in the world. Both teams had impressive wins in the semifinal, with Portugal beating Germany for the first time in 25 years, and Spain delivering a 5-4 win versus France.

Spain won the last European Championship with almost the same starting eleven set to play on Sunday. Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams, Le Normand, Marc Cucurella, and Unai Simon are among the players.

Portugal, on the other hand, has one of the most talented generations in the country's history, featuring three Champions League winners for PSG in the starting eleven - Vitinha, Nuno Mendes, and João Neves. The left-back and the two midfielders have been a core piece for the national team.

Ahead of the big final on Sunday, Neves asked about he sees the game, and the midfielder made it clear that no team was unbeatable.

‘I don’t think any team is unbeatable. Spain is a strong, young team with a lot of potential, but we have our strengths, and we’re going to take advantage of them to do everything we can to win on Sunday,’ he said.

Neves made sure to recognize Spain's strengths, such as playing together and having great players to get the best out of a 1-on-1 situation, but also warned about how Portugal has more players than only Cristiano Ronaldo.

‘I don’t think Spain is just Lamine Yamal. Spain is very strong as a team, even better collectively than individually, just like we are not only Cristiano Ronaldo,’ he said.

Cristiano Ronaldo had lost all five of his previous meetings vs. Germany.

Then he scored a 68th-minute winner to send Portugal into the UEFA Nations League final pic.twitter.com/2QbXjSusX6
— B/R Football (@brfootball) June 4, 2025

The player was one of the most important pieces for Luis Enrique’s generational run with PSG to win the first Champions League in the club’s history. Just a couple of weeks later, he’s playing another final alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.

Spain vs Portugal timeline

Last time both teams played each other was in 2022, and the formation looked a lot different. Spain won the game for the group phase in the UEFA Nations League, with Morata scoring the goal. Today, he’s still with the squad, but didn’t have any game-time in the last two matches.

Luis de la Fuente was responsible for mixing a few experienced players with young bloods from Barcelona. For a couple of decades now, the Spain national team has a big volume of players from La Masia, and currently have Pedri, Gavi, Ferran Torres, Pau Cubarsí, Dani Olmo and Fermín López.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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