Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express.
Only one Portugal ace in Nations League Team of the Tournament based on stats – no Ronaldo
CRISTIANO RONALDO helped steer Portugal to victory in the inaugural Nations League final, but the Juventus star misses out on the Team of the Tournament based on statistics.
Nations League: Portugal win a 'big deal' claims Gab Marcotti
Portugal were crowned winners of the first-ever Nations League after securing a 1-0 victory over Holland in Porto.
Goncalo Guedes scored the only goal of the game for Fernando Santos’ side as the European Champions dominated their opponents for much of the match.
Talisman Ronaldo had a quiet evening up against colossal centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Matthijs de Ligt, although the Juventus ace did notch a hat-trick against Switzerland in their semi-final.
However, neither Ronaldo nor Guedes impressed enough to make it into the WhoScored.com Team of the Tournament based on average match ratings.
A complicated collection of detailed statistics and metrics have been used to generate a score for each player’s performance, and there was just one Portugal star consistent enough to make the cut in the overall XI.
Meanwhile, beaten finalists Holland had three players included – partly down to their fantastic performance against England in the semi-finals.
Surprisingly, Switzerland boast the most representatives in the XI after their stunning group stage which saw them top the table ahead of much-fancied Belgium.
Spain midfielders Isco and Saul Niguez also shone despite their nation failing to make the finals and Italy’s Gianluigi Donnarumma was the most consistent goalkeeper in the inaugural competition.
Nations League Team of the Tournament based on WhoScored.com statistics
GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy) – 7.0
RB: Kevin Mbabu (Switzerland) – 7.5
CB: Fabian Schar (Switzerland) – 7.6
CB: Virgil van Dijk (Holland) – 7.2
LB: Daley Blind (Holland) – 7.2
RM: Bernardo Silva (Portugal) – 7.7
CM: Saul Niguez (Spain) – 7.5
CM: Xherdan Shaqiri (Switzerland) – 7.6
LM: Isco (Spain) – 7.6
ST: Haris Seferovic (Switzerland) – 7.6
ST: Memphis Depay (Holland) – 7.6