EURO 2024 Final Preview: England -v- Spain

ENGLAND

‘Now you're worried that I just might win,

You know the way to stop me, but you don't have the discipline,

How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin,

First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.’

Leonard Cohen

The thing that many of us worried about, and indeed some feared, could come to pass this Sunday. Only Spain can now stop England from taking the European title in Berlin's Olympiastadion.

But this is an England side that has struggled through most of the tournament. The positive for Gareth Southgate’s side is that they played their best 45 minutes of the Euros in their most recent match.

The first half display in the semi-final against the Dutch was probably the type of performance people expected to see from England throughout this tournament.

The more scratchy section half display is what we’ve come to expect from the Three Lions during EURO 2024. But, having made it to back-to-back finals and not having the pressure of playing the final on their home patch, maybe England can come home with the Henri Delaunay trophy for the very first time.

While the English play has not been the most entertaining, you cannot fault the drama that they have brought to this European Championship.

Their semi-final win was their third successive dramatic knockout tie. They had the added-time brilliant bicycle kick from Jude Bellingham that prevented their elimination at the hands of Slovakia in the round of 16 with captain Harry Kane heading the extra-time winner.

Against Switzerland a Bukayo Saka goal ten minutes from time sent their second successive game to extra-time with the Three Lions then prevailing on penalties.

With the clock ticking to 90 minutes in their semi-final against France, substitute Ollie Watkins struck a super goal to send England into Sunday’s final.

The match winner, speaking to EURO2024.com about the late win, said: "It's been an unbelievable feeling. I was trying to soak it all in because those moments don't come around often. I believe with hard work and dedication you can put your mind to anything and it happened for me on Wednesday.

He addressed their struggles through the group stages but noted that the team have improved as the tournament has gone on. "In the group stage, we weren't playing our best football – it doesn't take a genius to work that out. 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."

The England captain Harry Kane spoke about what a win on Sunday would mean, especially after their penalty shoot-out defeat at the hands of Italy in the last Euro final.

“It would mean everything, it really would,” said England’s skipper speaking to EURO2024.com about the possibility of lifting the trophy.

“To win a major tournament with your nation, I think, is the peak, or the pinnacle, of anyone’s professional career. I think when you got to the last final and you just fell short, there is definitely that fire in the belly to not let that happen again."

New balls please – UEFA line up new match ball for Euro semis and final https://t.co/rrbUhB7e45pic.twitter.com/1IAJPjjXbg

— extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) July 8, 2024

SPAIN           

We reach match 51 and the final one of EURO 2024 on Sunday. If you said that Spain would take on England in this game ahead of the first game of the tournament, there probably wouldn’t have been too much surprise given that these two sides were amongst those being named as favourites coming into this European Championship.

Both teams did top their respective groups en-route to the final and Spain are fully justified of their place in the Olympiastadion – winning six out of six – so far in the competition.

England meanwhile have somehow found their way to Berlin having not played particularly well and having been on the cusp of elimination twice, becoming the first team to make the final having been behind in all three of their knockout games.

Spain's skipper Álvaro Morata, speaking to EURO2024.com was asked by Graham Hunter about the possibility of leading his team to the European title said: "We still have to play a final against a great team like England – it'll be hard. You can't imagine, and I can't even begin to describe, what it would mean for me to captain Spain to winning this EURO.”

Key to the Spanish success in the tournament so far has been their young players – like Nico Williams (22) and record breaking young goalscorer Lamine Yamal who turned 17 on the eve of the final. Morata spoke about how they are working with the highly talented teenager.

“We’ve been telling him ‘We are going to win the EURO!’ We've been advising him to think about details of how he can help us achieve that. We try to protect him in small details, because he's a footballer who's different from almost anyone else. But I think we can say that about Nico [Williams] and Dani Olmo – I think they're all special.

"I could name our entire squad. And now we're just one step away from making history again, but we'll have to fight hard because it's going to be tough."

Olmo has been another of Spain’s stand-out talent at this tournament and EURO2024.com asked the RB Leipzig player about the opponent his team faces on Sunday. 

"They’ve got to the final on merit,” said Olmo about England.

“In the last EURO they also reached the final and lost on penalties. Here they are again. Some say they’re improving as they go but they are in the final because they deserve to be. It’s never easy to reach a final of an international championship like this. It will be a great spectacle."

Olmo's strike against Les Bleus made him the first Spainish player to score in three successive EURO matches.

Referee: François Letexier (France)

French referee François Letexier to officiate EURO 2024 final thanks to semi-final defeat for Didier Deschamps' French side https://t.co/H85WiEcco3pic.twitter.com/odSnjYpYPB

— extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) July 11, 2024

PREDICTION

England 1 - 2 Spain

MATCH STATS

England are unbeaten in their last 13 EURO matches, with their last lost being a 2-1 defeat to Iceland in the 2016 round of 16 when new Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson was joint manager of Iceland.

That defeat is England's only reverse in 24 EURO finals matches (W13 D10), with the penalty shoot-outs against Italy (2012, 2020), Portugal (2004) and Switzerland (2024) noted as draws.

No side will have played more Euro finals than Spain after Sunday with La Roja seeking a record fourth European Championship crown. Spain have played in four European Championship finals to date – losing just one (against host France 2-0 in the 1984 final in Paris). Their three win are:

1964 W 2-1 v Soviet Union (Madrid)
2008 W 1-0 v Germany (Vienna)
2012 W 4-0 v Italy (Kyiv)

The teams last met in the 2018/19 UEFA Nations League, each recording an away victory. Prior that those Nations League ties, their last competitive meeting was during EURO 96, when England prevailed 4-2 on penalties after a 0-0 draw at Wembley – their only EURO shoot-out success before this tournament.

Against France in their semi-final in Munich then 16-year-old Lamine Yamal became the youngest scorer in EURO history while Jesús Navas, aged 38 years 231 days, became the oldest outfield player to appear in a EURO or World Cup semi-final.