Ronaldo's Public Accusations Overshadow a Night of Nations League Football

The international window closed with an extraordinary distraction at the heart of Portuguese football. Cristiano Ronaldo issued a lengthy public statement accusing coach Jorge Jesus of breaking his word twice, saying a failed promise to explain his omission against Norway had left him no choice but to leave the squad ahead of their Nations League fixture against Denmark. At 41, Ronaldo insists he remains available for future call-ups, but the public breakdown of trust between Portugal's most prominent player and their head coach cast a long shadow over the evening's results.

On the pitch, Spain continued to be in a class of their own at international level. Coming from behind to beat Croatia 2-1, Luis de la Fuente's side extended their unbeaten run to 43 games — a fourth win in this Nations League window for the reigning world champions, whose consistency at this level is increasingly difficult to contextualise. Harry Kane, meanwhile, had a quieter kind of record-breaking night at Wembley: two goals in England's 3-0 win over Czechia took his international tally to 91, and his 125th cap tied a national appearance record.

Elsewhere, Scotland suffered another setback at Hampden, losing to Slovenia and leaving coach Sebastien Pocognoli still searching for a first home win, while the Republic of Ireland's Under-21s beat their English counterparts 3-1 in Cork to secure a Euro 2027 play-off place — inflicting, in the process, England U21s' first ever defeat to Ireland.