Nobody expected Mikel Oyarzabal. When all eyes were on Spain’s wonderkids, Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams, or even when La Roja’s football was only looking at Rodri and Fabián. At the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, in the Euro Cup final against England, Mikel Oyarzabal appeared. Nobody expected it. Only Luis de la Fuente: enough to bring Las Rozas its fourth Euro. No other team has so many in its trophy cabinet.
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Unai Simon, Marc Cucurella, Aymeric Laporte, Dani Carvajal, Robin Le Normand (Nacho, min. 82), Fabian Ruiz, Dani Olmo, Lamine Yamal (Mikel Merino, min. 88), Nico Williams, Rodri (Martin Zubimendi, min. 45) and Alvaro Morata (Mikel Oyarzabal, min. 67)
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Jordan Pickford, Kyle Walker, Luke Shaw, John Stones, Marc Guéhi, Kobbie Mainoo (Cole Palmer, min. 69), Phil Foden (Ivan Toney, min. 88), Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Harry Kane (Ollie Watkins, min. 60)
Goals
1-0 min. 46: Nico Williams. 1-1 min. 72: Cole Palmer. 2-1 min. 85: Oyarzabal
Referee François Letexier
Kane (min. 24), Dani Olmo (min. 30), John Stones (min. 52), Ollie Watkins (min. 91)
Oyarzabal was untouchable for De la Fuente when he called up the Real Sociedad player. It was enough for him to call him up for Las Rozas. Oyarzabal found the moment to thank De la Fuente for his trust. And there was no better time.
“I did my job, I did what I had to do at any given time, trying to help. Luckily I scored the winning goal. In the end, when you go through tough times, just being among the 26 is really appreciated, and if you are lucky enough to be able to help today like I did, it is the best,” said the Real striker, hero of Berlin. “Luckily,” he added, “I can take this immense joy after going through what I have been through; I am very happy.”
Curiosities of football, or of fate, perhaps two sides of the same coin, Oyarzabal came on to the field to replace Álvaro Morata. It was the moment of vindication of the captain. The fans in the 66th minute, when the electronic board showed the 7th, chanted: “Morata, Morata, Morata”.
Spain was finally beginning to appreciate the invisible game of Álvaro Morata. And this is what the coaching staff privately emphasised. “Álvaro is very intelligent at reading the game and creating space for his teammates. Nico and Lamine could not exploit their virtues as they do with a centre forward with other characteristics, with a more selfish number 9”, they explained in the run-up to the final, from the Roja concentration in Donaueschingen. Publicly, De la Fuente not only praised his football, but also his personality. “This player would be a legend in another country with recognised prestige”, emphasised the Roja coach, after the new criticism that the forward had received.
In Berlin, the coach’s words had an effect, as did his decision. The public applauded the captain, the substitution of Oyarzabal for Morata resulted in Spain’s victory. Football, in any case, was in the hands of Nico Williams, who was named the best player of the match.
Jokes. Teasing. Assists. Goals. And football, especially football. The relationship between Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal (best young player of the tournament) that began with childish jokes in the locker room and exploded with mature football on the field, lifted Spain in Berlin. Once again. If in the semi-final against France the spotlight had been on Lamine Yamal, against England it was Nico Williams’ turn.
There was a third actor, also accustomed to the spotlight, usually the most negative, in the play that sparked the score in Berlin: Álvaro Morata. When Lamine Yamal got the ball, the number 7 made a diagonal run that opened up the space for Nico Williams to receive it alone, comfortable enough to send the ball into the net. On Morata, however, the cameras did not stop. He is used to it.
Nico Williams’ appearance was not just any moment. There seemed to be no trace of Rodri (the tournament’s best player) and Fabián in Berlin. Dani Olmo was not joining in either. All alone, without connections, the game of La Roja became predictable, slow. In short, Spain lacked rhythm. The rhythm had come on the road to Spain’s last match and was in the stands.
In the build-up to the final, De la Fuente had anticipated that Gavi would join the Roja expedition in the final. “Gavi will be with us to be the 27th player,” the coach revealed in the build-up. And the Barça player, who broke his knee last November and is already in the final stages of recovery, landed in Berlin and spent the whole day with his teammates. It was precisely Gavi’s electric football that La Roja was missing in the first half, when the spider web that Southgate had drawn in the midfield slowed down Spain’s football, always dependent on what Rodri creates. To make matters worse for La Roja, an energetic stretch by Rodri to block a shot by Kane, at the end of the first half, left him with his hand on his hamstrings. After the break, Rodri did not return to the field.
But the spaces were not created by Rodri’s brain, they were created by Morata’s ability to sacrifice. The goal, not surprising, for Nico; the assist, for Lamine. However, the final was meant to be suspenseful. And now without Morata, nor Rodri, but with space to run, Oyarzabal appeared in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. Nobody expected it, only De la Fuente.
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