July 12 – In a blockbuster final in Berlin, Spain, the standout team of Euro 2024 will be looking to clinch a record fourth European title against Gareth Southgate’s England.
The Spanish are the most successful team in tournament history together with Germany. They won the European championship in 1964, 2008 and 2012 and return to their first major final since their triumph in Kyiv.
It will be Spain’s fifth final, behind only Germany who have featured in six finals. In back-to-back finals, England are the fourth country to achieve that feat. Southgate joins Helmut Schön and Berti Vogts as the only managers to lead a team to two European championship finals.
After dominant performances throughout the tournament, Spain will be favourites to win Sunday’s showpiece match, but England can take heart from the head-to-head record having defeated La Roja 13 times in 27 encounters.
In an underdog position, England will seek to defy logic one last time. The football gods have smiled on the Three Lions, but late-stage Gareth Southgate has been bewildering and beguiling in equal measure.
They have been behind in all three of their knockout matches, they have come back as many times against Slovakia, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Each match had its heroes, a major star stepping up and delivering in style: Jude Bellingham with a superlative last-minute bicycle kick, Bukayo Saka’s redemptive penalty and Ollie Watkins’s cool-blooded winner. In the end, individual quality always led England to victory. There is no denying that this England team are hardened – organised and difficult to defeat. They grind out results and always find a way. It might not be pretty, but, at times, their last-minute great escapes and victories have been enthralling.
Against the Netherlands, England for the first time played a team that did not sit low in a low block but enjoyed attacking. The Three Lions revelled in the space on offer and England’s midfield overran the Dutch, who struggled to deal with Phil Foden, Saka and Bellingham.
Spain also like to attack and might give space away. At the same time, it will be much harder to retain possession against the ball-hogging Spaniards, whose game has shifted away from Tiki Taka under Luis de la Fuente and his young wingers Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams.
At 16, Yamal became the breakout star of the tournament with his wonder strike that knocked out Les Bleus in the semi-finals. He provides constant attacking impetus and assists. Spain however are about more than simply prodigies on the wing. Daniel Olmo is the embodiment of the team’s quality and strength in depth. He is quicky-witted beauty personified with gossamer passing and luminous vision.
England will have to contain Spain’s best and provide one last logic-defying performance to reach dreamland and claim a first major trophy since 1966. All those years of hurt will at least be forgotten.
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