Portugal beat Holland to win first Nations League

PORTUGAL added the inaugural Nations League title to their Euro 2016 triumph as Goncalo Guedes’s strike on the hour won an underwhelming final 1-0 against the Netherlands in Porto on Sunday.

The Dutch defensive pairing of Virgil van Dijk and Matthijs de Ligt largely kept Cristiano Ronaldo quiet, but Valencia winger Guedes proved the match winner as his shot had too much power for Jasper Cillessen in the Netherlands goal.

“Thank god things have gone well for the national team in recent years. Portugal has won important things like Euro 2016 and now the League of Nations,” said Ronaldo.

“It may seem like an easy job but it’s hard, it takes a lot of dedication and willingness. I think the players deserve to be congratulated.”

Portugal had the advantage of an extra day’s rest and not bei ng forced to ex t ra t i me against Swit zerla nd in t heir semi-final as the Dutch were i n s e ei ng of f E ng la nd on Thursday.

And the hosts looked the fresher throughout with Ronald Koeman’s men jaded at the end of a long season.

“If we were tired I don’t know, but we were not good enough,” admitted Koeman.

“They defended wel l a nd t he were ver y compact i n their game, but you have to be better wit h t he ba l l a nd we were not.”

The match had been billed as a showdown between Rona ldo a nd Va n Dijk but wit h the Dutch captain again rock solid at t he back, Portuga l’s main threat came from midf ield w it h Ber na rdo Si l v a rightf ul ly winning player of the tournament.

“I’m ver y happy, ver y proud. It ’s my f i r st t it le w it h my countr y,” said Silva, who a lso won an English domestic treble with Manchester Cit y this season.

“Tha nk you to t he Por t ug uese people, what a nig ht for us, what a nig ht for t he countr y! ”

Silva provided the one true moment of quality to decide the game.

He broke through the Dutch defence and then picked out Guedes, who bravely ignored play i ng i n Rona ldo to dr i l l a low shot pa st Ci l le s s en himself.

“If you want to win you have to play well, and if Portugal won we had to play well, whether it was handsome or not,” said Portugal coach Fernando Santos.

The Netherlands have made huge strides in just over a year si nce Koema n took cha rge a f ter missi ng out on even qua l i f y i ng for t he la st t wo tournaments.

After overcoming world champions France and Germany in the group stages, Koeman’s men also outclassed England in the semi-finals.

However, unlike in midweek when Frenkie de Jong dominated the midfield against the English, Holland’s latest Barcelona-bound star was unable to seize control of the game and their lack of a top-class striker left the Dutch toothless up front.

“We’ve made a lot of progress. We have to be very proud of ourselves; now disappointment is in our heads but we have to keep the heads up,” said Van Dijk.

“It’s been a good season but hopefully next season is going to be even better. That’s the only thing I’m striving for.”