The numbers behind a Nations League classic between Spain and France

When European footballing giants Spain and France collide there are almost always talking points to digest from the game, and Thursday night's epic Nations League semi-final clash was no different.

Portugal lay in wait in Sunday's final after a fairly mundane 2-1 win over Germany in their semi-final, and both La Roja and Les Bleus started on the front foot in their bid to join them.

Both teams began on the front foot

France's Theo Hernandez had three shots himself before 11 minutes were on the clock, one of which hit the woodwork, and with 20 minutes gone, there had already been 12 shots at goal between the two teams.

Shortly after, Nico Williams' opener spelt danger for Les Bleus.

That's because they hadn't won any of their Nations League games when going behind since beating Spain on October 10, 2021. La Roja had also won all 12 of their matches since that game when scoring first.

Spain's current formFlashscore

Mikel Merino quickly added a second, putting some daylight between the two teams, and that goal meant that France had conceded nine first-half goals in nine games. Only Armenia (10) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (nine) had conceded more in the opening 45 minutes of a 2024/25 Nations League game.

Although the French team were still behind at the break, Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon had made five saves, indicating that Didier Deschamps' side weren't out of the match just yet, albeit his strikers needed to quickly get their shooting boots on.

Lamine Yamal's influence clear for all to see

Lamine Yamal had been terrorising the opposition well before he won, and then converted a penalty to put Spain 3-0 up on 53 minutes, and at that point, there seemed no way back for Les Bleus.

His 50 touches were by far the most of any of Spain's attackers, and 12 passes in the final third - more than any of his teammates - gave further credence to the notion that Lamine has already established himself as the one player with an incredible ability to unlock even the tightest of defences.

A minute and a half after the spot-kick, Pedri made it four for Spain and by then it was surely game over, though to their credit, France didn't stop creating and soon had their reward.

Like Yamal, Kylian Mbappe both won and scored a penalty before the hour mark, with complacency seemingly starting to creep in from a Spanish point of view. 

Though they were keeping the ball with ease, their 43.4% possession wasn't really going anywhere. It's as if the collective thought process was 'the job's done, we can relax.'

France took the upper hand in the second half

That's a dangerous game to play of course, and it resulted in France taking the upper hand and having 65.2% possession over the opening 15 minutes of the second half.

Lamine Yamal's second and Spain's fifth rather than deflate the French appeared to galvanise them, and they really started to put the pressure on in the latter stages of the game.

297 passes in the opposition half, including 178 in the final third (compared to Spain's 70), indicated how the game had swung right back in favour of the side that were trailing by four goals.

France's Ousmane Dembele took the game to Spain in the latter stages of their Nations League semi-finalMutsu Kawamori / AFLO / Profimedia

Step forward Ousmane Dembele and Bradley Barcola. Fresh from their Champions League triumph with PSG, the pair started to exert their own influence on proceedings, both having a joint-best seven touches in the Spanish penalty area, and Dembele firing off four shots too - more than any of his teammates.

Desire Doue, another member of the successful PSG side, had been putting in the hard yards until his substitution just after the hour, and his 13 one-on-one duels were only topped by Manu Kone (14) as France looked to finally enjoy some sustained possession of their own.

Spain's late collapse a worry for de la Fuente

At the opposite end of the pitch, Clement Lenglet - with 97.9% pass completion - and Ibrahima Konate were holding firm in defence, with three clearances each the joint most of any player on the pitch.

Rayan Cherki's stunning debut strike with 12 minutes left to play - the fifth goal conceded by Spain to an opposition substitute in the 2024/2025 Nations League, more than any other team - offered France a glimmer of hope, and Dani Vivian's own goal seven minutes after coming on saw the pendulum swing further in their favour.

Randal Kolo-Muani's injury-time goal - his fourth in this Nations League campaign - came just that little bit too late for France to complete what would've been a stunning comeback.

The worry for Luis de la Fuente ahead of the final against Portugal will be that six goals had now been conceded in the final 15 minutes of a Nations League game by his team, more than any of the other squads in the competition.

Credit to both teams

He will likely point to Spain having scored 23 goals in their last eight games, however, with no player scoring more than 17-year-old Lamine Yamal's three, including the two against the French. Despite his age, talk about being a player for the big occasion!

In the end, a nine-goal thriller at the end of a gruelling season and ahead of an energy-sapping Club World Cup can hardly have been expected, so credit has to be given to both teams for such an exciting spectacle.

Jason PettigroveFlashscore