Neither team could be separated in an end-to-end encounter in the Netherlands after 120 minutes, with both our City stars chosen to take spot kicks.
And while Laporte would see his effort come crashing back off the crossbar, La Roja, beaten finalists in 2021, came out on top thanks to some penalty heroics from Spain stopper Unai Simon.
It means the pair have increased their personal tally to a remarkable four trophies at Club and international across 2022/23.
Our City duo both started for La Roja at De Kuip, with the two-time European champions looking the brighter in the opening exchanges.
Indeed, they’d struck the post inside ten minutes when Croatian stopper Dominik Livakovic fumbled a cross from Fabian Ruiz, before Gavi flashed an effort just wide from the edge of the area.
However, Spain were thankful to Laporte for a fine defensive challenge soon after, with our centre-half recovering just in time to steal the ball away from Andrej Kramaric, who had been sent through with a lofted pass.
That sight of goal sprung the Croatians into life, with Kramaric once again going close inside the six-yard box, but the former Leicester forward couldn’t make a clean contact.
Laporte, Rodrigo and co. continued to dominate possession, but were thankful that nobody could get on the end of a dangerous cross from Marcelo Brozovic, who had expertly shrugged off the attentions of Gavi to work the chance.
But Spain recovered well after the break and were close to the opener when Marco Asensio headed Jordi Alba’s cross over the bar from a promising position.
Like the first 45 though, Croatia improved as the half wore on with Mario Pasalic the next to send a decent chance wide of the mark when he couldn’t find the target from Ivan Perisic’s ball into the area.
An end-to-end clash continued to ebb and flow, with Fabio Ruiz dinking the ball onto the roof of the net with 15 to play when Livakovic was left stranded after cutting out a pass in behind for Ansu Fati.
And La Roja almost nicked it late on in normal time, with Perisic clearing off the line to deny substitute Fati with what surely would’ve been the winner.
Into extra time and it was Croatia’s turn to rue a missed opportunity when Lovro Majer took too long to pull the trigger after being sent through by Mateo Kovacic, with Nacho recovering to block his path to goal.
Despite a gruelling end to the season for Laporte and Rodrigo, the City pair continued to offer their usual blend of style and substance for La Roja, with the former seeing a stinging drive blocked as penalties approached.
And the midfielder would make no mistake from the spot when called upon, coolly dispatching Spain’s second penalty in the eventual shootout after the two sides couldn’t be separated inside 120 minutes.
Laporte didn’t have such luck, striking the bar from 12 yards when presented with the chance to clinch the title after Majer had seen his kick saved by Unai Simon.
However, our City duo would still end up on the winning side, with Simon guessing right again to deny Bruno Petkovic, before Dani Carvajal stroked home the decisive spotkick.
Congratulations to both of our Spanish stars from everyone at Manchester City.
