The story of the UEFA Euro 2024 final is an interesting one. If you were told at the outset of the tournament that the final would be played between England and Spain, you might have been mildly surprised.
Seeing the Three Lions in the final wouldn’t have fazed you much. After all, they were finalists at Euro 2020 and headed into the tournament as the betting favourites.
La Roja would be the more surprising finalists of the two. Not that Spain is by any means an unheralded side, but Luis de la Fuente’s current squad is, perhaps, more dependent on younger, more unproven talent than some Spain teams of the past and weren’t as sexy a pick as, say, France or the hosts Germany, coincidentally, two teams that Spain beat on their way to a third final in five tournaments.
The actual surprising part about this final is the identity of the two teams in it. The best team has not been England. It’s been Spain. La Roja have won all six of their matches. No team has ever done that before at a Euro.
No team has scored more goals than La Roja or conceded fewer at the tournament. Lamine Yamal, the 17-year-old Barcelona winger, has been a revelation, leading the tournament in assists and scoring one of the goals of Euro 2024 in the semifinals victory over France. RB Leipzig’s Dani Olmo, whether starting or coming off of the bench, has been a spark plug in attack and leads the Golden Boot race. Maybe the best midfielder in the world, Rodri has been a stabilizing presence in the middle of the park just like he has at Manchester City. This Spain team is a well-oiled machine and is full marks for being ready to contest another final.
If England, then, is not the tournament’s best team, they’re its most resilient. Dogged by poor play in the group stage and growing calls for change from pundits and fans alike, Gareth Southgate’s team has gotten better as the tournament has progressed.
What’s been most impressive about England’s effort is that they have trailed in all three of their knockout matches before coming back to win. It was a spectacular Jude Bellingham goal in stoppage against Slovakia to force extra time. Bukayo Saka left it late to score against Switzerland before the Three Lions eventually won on penalties. Then, in the semi against the Netherlands, a Harry Kane penalty cancelled out Xavi Simons’ early goal with a last-gasp strike from Ollie Watkins winning the match on the stroke of 90 minutes.
“In the group stage, we weren’t playing our best football – it doesn’t take a genius to work that out,” Watkins said. “The main thing is we weren’t losing games and as it’s gone further on we’ve been playing better football. We’re controlling games. If we go a goal behind we don’t crumble. We’ve shown the togetherness that everybody’s there to work hard as a team. We’re getting stronger. Hopefully, we can get the job done.”
While England has to go all the way back to the 1966 World Cup for the last time the Three Lions captured a major honour, this current Spain squad is living in the afterglow of one of the greatest eras ever in European football with La Roja claiming Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 in succession. With the memories of that era still fresh in their minds, Dani Vivian says those teams have made the current La Roja believe in greatness.
“From [2008] onwards, we all felt more like it was possible to win big things,” the Athletic centre-back said. “The documentaries which were made to show what it was like for them, from the Luis Aragonés era onwards, allowed us inside to see how they lived that experience, what they felt like, how they thought.”
What has worked for Southgate thus far in the tournament has been his team’s ability to adapt to its opponent. Now in his fourth major tournament as Three Lions boss, Southgate has tailored his backline based on the opposition, utilizing both a back three and back four dependent on which he feels gives England a better chance for success.
De la Fuente has favoured consistency, only making changes when forced to, like the injury to Pedri and booking suspensions for Dani Carvajal and Robin Le Normand. Olmo expects that to stay the same against England.
“Things are working,” Olmo said. “Why change? We have a unique style, it’s going well, it’s a strength. Within that, you always try to come up with new details, which the coach might suggest. The overall philosophy won’t change at all.”
Both teams will be attempting to make history on Sunday. Should Spain win, they will be the first team to win every single one of their Euro matches en route to a championship. Should England win, not only will it be their first ever Euro title, it will be their first-ever major honour claimed on foreign soil. The 1966 World Cup was won at Wembley Stadium.
Spain and England are far from strangers to one another, having met on 27 previous occasions with the Three Lions holding a 14-3-10 edge. Sunday’s match will be the fifth meeting between the two at a Euro and first since 1996. In 1968, England defeated La Roja 3-1 on aggregate over two legs to advance to the Euro semifinals. Twelve years later in Italy, England were 2-1 winners in group-stage play at Euro 1980. Most recently, England defeated Spain 0-0 (4-2 on penalties) in the Euro 1996 quarters at Wembley. Southgate started at centre-back for the Three Lions during the match.
The last time England and Spain played in a competitive fixture it was over two legs in the 2018 UEFA Nations League. In the first leg at Wembley, Marcus Rashford opened the scoring after 11 minutes before Saul Niguez leveled two minutes later and Rodri scored later in the first half for a 2-1 win. Then in the return leg in Sevilla, three first-half goals – two from Raheem Sterling and another from Rashford – were too much to overcome as England claimed a 3-2 win and advanced on away goals.
POTENTIAL SPAIN XI (4-3-3): Unai Simon; Dani Carvajal, Robin Le Normand, Aymeric Laporte, Marc Cucurella; Fabian Ruiz, Rodri, Dani Olmo; Lamine Yamal, Alvaro Morata, Nico Williams Jr.
POTENTIAL ENGLAND XI (3-4-2-1): Jordan Pickford; Kyle Walker, John Stones, Marc Guehi; Bukayo Saka, Kobbie Mainoo, Declan Rice, Luke Shaw; Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden; Harry Kane
