BARCELONA, Sept 14: World champions Germany retained the men’s European Nations Cup after a nail-biting 5-4 penalty-shoot victory over hosts Spain on Saturday.

The victory also secured them a place at next year’s Olympics.

It was Spain who took the lead with a well-taken field goal from Santi Freixa on 19 minutes, but Germany levelled the game 14 minutes later when skipper Florian Kunz scored from a penalty corner.

With the scores remaining level right through to the end of extra time it was the world champions who held their nerve to claim their narrow victory.

England took third place when they beat the Netherlands 6-5 in a penalty shoot-out after the match had ended in a 1-1 draw at the end of extra-time.—Reuters