Spain crowned European champions for the fourth time thanks to late win over England

La Roja is now the most successful nation in the history of the Euro thanks to its victory against the English (2-1), Sunday in Berlin.

They were the most exciting and dominant on the pitch throughout the competition, and here are the Spaniards rewarded. At the end of a final that took a while to get going, La Roja won the fourth Euro in its history against England (2-1), Sunday July 14, in Berlin, in an Olympic stadium that was nevertheless committed to the cause of the Three Lions. Despite Cole Palmer’s equalizer (73rd) after Nico Williams’ opener (47th), Mikel Oyarzabal gave his team victory in the 86th minute. This fourth continental trophy is added to those won in 1964, 2008 and 2012.

However, we have long wondered whether the Spanish on the pitch were really the ones seen since the start of the Euro. With waste in the final gestures, Luis de la Fuente’s men had difficulty in deploying their game, in finding themselves and putting themselves in the ideal position to shoot during the first period. Facing them, a united English team found more space and created the most dangerous actions, despite low possession.

After this rather dull first half, it took no more than two minutes for the match to get going after the break. Unaffected by the injury-related exit of their playmaker, Rodri, voted best player of the tournament, the Spanish opened the scoring through Nico Williams, well served by Lamine Yamal (47th). The two most active players were logically decisive. La Roja, with a much more fluid game, then had several opportunities to kill any suspense, but the English had not said their last word.

Gareth Southgate made a strong choice by replacing his captain, Harry Kane, on the hour mark. His team then managed to get close to the opposing goal and Cole Palmer equalised for his team with a low shot from outside the area (73rd). Enough to get the many English supporters jumping and getting even louder, who pushed their team to the end of the game. However, they were quickly cooled when Mikel Oyarzabal, also a substitute, burst into their area to send a Marc Cucurella cross into the back of the net (86th).

The substitutes and the staff of La Roja then got up as one man to run to celebrate this achievement with the scorer, as they would do again a few minutes later, at the final whistle, to celebrate a new European title, the third in the last five editions of the Euro, proof of Spain’s consistent performances at this level. The English, who had come back to the score many times at the very end of the match in this Euro, did not succeed this time and left Berlin with their heads bowed, while an entire people finally believed that the moment was right for their team, in desperate search of a title since 1966.