It has been Spain’s Euro Cup, from its debut against Croatia to the final against England, with the start and finish in Berlin. There has not been a single match in which the team has not been the reference of the tournament for its football and also for its players, winners of half-time matches and important challenges, praised for its associative play and for the individual brilliance of youngsters such as Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams. The optimism of the youngsters has been contagious for a supportive and expansive team that always played freely, with no pressure other than its own, driven by the desire to win, as if it acted with its back to the scoreboard and was immune to defeat, nothing like England. The Euro final was ultimately the pinnacle of a journey that began with the European Under-19 Championship in 2015, the European Under-21 Championship in 2019, the Olympic silver medal in Tokyo 2020 and the Nations League in 2023.
The driving force of De la Fuente’s Spain has been team play, or family play – as the footballers say – to explain that it is about disguising all the defects and exposing the critics who maintain that without a goal-scoring centre forward and two top-class centre-backs you cannot advance in a tournament like the Euros. Everything makes sense from a team perspective for a team that plays with the rationality of Rodri or Zubimendi, the omnipresence of Fabián, the savoir-faire of Olmo and the suffering of Morata. Common names and also people of great human and footballing quality, excellent in the obvious aspects of the game rather than in the commercial aspects – not to mention the superfluous – and therefore convinced that to win it is about doing things well and going for the game without fear, convinced of success as has been the norm in the Euros.
England, on the other hand, have been gripped by the fear of losing until they reached Berlin. Their goals have attested to their ability to survive since their arrival in Germany. Nobody remembers their matches, and even less their play, but rather their goals: Bellingham’s overhead kick in added time against Slovakia, Bukayo Saka’s mid-distance shot to reach the penalty shoot-out against Switzerland, Watkins’ cross-shot that defeated the Netherlands or Palmer’s shot for Spain. They travelled through the tournament from goal to goal, motivated by inferiority, when they knew they were eliminated, and on the contrary paralysed by their status as favourites, incapable of collectively imposing the sum of their individualities, most of them figures from clubs such as Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool or Madrid. Madrid has been precisely their reference to justify their way of playing and also to win until they faced Spain.
The English are no longer allowed to lose, having been spectators of the football they invented for too many years since they won the world championship for the first time in 1966, also slaves to a goal by Hurst, which seemed more like a concession to the World Cup host than the play of the tournament. They have been the perfect rivals for historic victories such as Maradona’s Argentina in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico or Germany in 1990 when Gascoigne burst into tears in Turin or Spain in Germany. England’s history is so full of villains that its football fans have been thinking a lot about what their hero should be like after also suspecting Kane, the endless scorer, winner of the Golden Boot and yet incapable of winning the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich. This explains the federation’s confidence in Southgate, twice a finalist in the European Championship, and in both defeats, in England and in Germany.
The coach always offered himself discreetly as the bad guy in the movie to save famous footballers like Foden, Bellingham or Kane. None of them stood out in Berlin. Kane was substituted while Bellingham suffered the same fate as Modric, Kroos, Mbappé or Lunin as a Real Madrid player. Madrid’s strength lies precisely in its shirt, its crest and the legend of Alfredo Di Stéfano. England was delighted at Blankenhain Castle and applauded Spain’s victory in a very difficult match, which they did not stop turning around until they won twice, the last time at the end and definitively, after the English congratulated themselves for the 1-1. Pickford’s threat to goal was as forceful as Unai Simón’s defense of goal in a last play defended by Dani Olmo.
The Spanish internationals have never given up on a game half-done or as impossible, but rather have blind faith in the collective and in their catalogue of resources, personified very often by Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams. Both were decisive in bringing home a victory that Spain deserved more than anyone else in Germany. The presence of England served more than anything to endorse the triumph of De la Fuente’s team. As with the footballers, the figure of the coach grew on the training pitch, in the line-ups and with the changes, some of which were questioned before the end of the matches, before they ended well, as happened last night with the decisive goal by Oyarzabal when the match was heading towards extra time in the Berlin stadium.
The Spanish, however, were never complacent or speculators, but sought victory with greatness against a rough and ultimately defeated England. A historic triumph after winning all seven matches in the game, defeating rival world champions such as Italy, Germany, France and finally England and being the first to win four European Cups. The importance is not only in the title but in the game model found after the loss experienced since Euro 2012. The team returns to the winning path started in 2008 with an unquestionable authority at a global and individual level, admired for its desire to win, nothing to do with England’s fear of losing.
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