Too slick, too quick and, ultimately, just too good at football; Spain reaffirmed their standing as the best team in the world as they outclassed Germany and retained the Women’s Nations League title in spite of the absence of their injured superstar Aitana Bonmatí, The Guardian reported. 

The world champions were playing their first game since their Ballon d’Or-winning midfielder was ruled out for five months after undergoing surgery on a broken leg, but anybody who worried that her absence may disrupt Spain’s stylish football was immediately proved wrong, as they demonstrated the extensive depth of talent across their classy team and eventually played some ruthless football to dispatch their rivals at the Estadio Metropolitano.

All of the goals came in a 13-minute second-half burst of the second leg, but Spain could have been comfortably in control before half-time on home soil, in what was a fearless attacking performance that thrilled the Madrid crowd of 55,843 – a record for a Spanish women’s national team home fixture – with well-taken goals once Germany’s resistance was finally broken, according to The Guardian.