Spain has won Euro 2024 after triumphing with a 2:1 score over England in the final of the tournament last night. Spain played the best football throughout the entire tournament and deservedly lifted the title, becoming the nation with the most Euro titles – four, more than any other. On the other hand, England’s loss was anticipated. From the very first game, Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions appeared to be in Germany with the sole mission of not losing, lacking any clear strategy on how to dominate matches and scraping through to the final largely by luck.
🇪🇸 Spain are #Euro2024 champions 🇪🇸
Spain 2-1 England
StatsBomb Live xG:
🇪🇸 2.17 – 0.90 🏴#SPAENG pic.twitter.com/6zp5QjimZs— StatsBomb (@StatsBomb) July 14, 2024
The first half of the match ended in a goalless draw, but Spain took the lead immediately after the break. Lamine Yamal assisted Nico Williams in England’s box, and the 22-year-old winger perfectly placed the ball into the bottom right corner of Jordan Pickford’s net. Spain did not lose any time and attempted to increase their lead, as the shocked English players could only watch for the next few minutes. Dani Olmo, Nico Williams, Lamine Yamal, and Fabian Ruiz all missed good chances to seal the title. England capitalized on that, with Cole Palmer scoring a well-placed shot from outside the box after 73 minutes of play.
Spain again went forward, and with 4 minutes remaining of regular time, Mikel Oyarzabal received a through ball from Marc Cucurella and, with one touch, steered it behind Pickford, making it 2-1 Spain. The Three Lions had a huge opportunity in the last seconds of the game. First, Declan Rice met a cross with a powerful header, which was parried away by Unai Simon. Then Marc Guehi met the rebounded ball and sent it goalwards, only to see Dani Olmo clearing it off the line.
Football won, and the media hyping lost. Once again, it was proven that England is far from the best teams, even if they manage to make a deep run. Under Southgate, England seemed to wait for the opposition to eliminate themselves, having no clear idea on how to penetrate their defences. The Euro 2024 final itself offered much of the same. The Spaniards dominated, holding the ball for 65% of the match. They had 15 attempts on goal, while the Three Lions finished the game with 9, despite trailing for much of the time. La Furia was the more aggressive side, committing 11 fouls, while England made just 5 rule infringements, evidence of how the English players were not trying to win the ball back immediately but rather regroup in their own half and wait. Another telling stat from last night was the number of corner kicks taken: Spain had 10, while England had just 2.