Spain took the lead in the Nations League final against France through Mikel Oyarzabal.
The Nations League has often been considered a second-rate international tournament by the fans, but the entertaining and competitive nature of this year’s semi-finals went some way to rubbishing that notion.
The final has been a slow burner but has exploded into life just over the hour mark, with Real Sociedad star Mikel Oyarzabal breaking the deadlock with a superb finish.
Oyarzabal got the luck of the bounce as he attempted to run beyond the French defence, but there was nothing lucky about the finish, which was drilled low and hard into the bottom corner of Hugo Lloris’ goal.
BENZEMA BOUNCES BACK ?
Watch as Oyarzabal puts Spain 1-0… only for Benzema to equal the scoring minutes after with a moment of brilliance! ?
?? Spain 1-1 France ??
? Watch the #UEFANationsLeague Final live on Sky Football and Main Event pic.twitter.com/xRYvkVhFnf
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) October 10, 2021
Spain [1]-0 France | GOAL! Oyarzabal ?
to never miss any goal Follow here ?@IFAST66 pic.twitter.com/mI3Gq8CSjj
— Follow @IFAST66 (@ifast222) October 10, 2021
Pictures courtesy of beIN Sports
MORE: (Video) Karim Benzema scores stunner vs. Spain to drag Les Bleus level in final
Unfortunately for Oyarzabal and the rest of the Spanish national side, his goal had La Roja in the lead for just a matter of minutes, with Karim Benzema striking back swiftly and emphatically.
The best is still yet to come from Luis Enrique’s men, with the average age of the squad being considerably younger than many of their counterparts.
This defeat will sting, though, make no mistake…
france was offside on the second goal