Will Euro 2024 final against England mark new spell of Spain dominance

‘With difficulty’ was the answer for the best part of a decade, with a succession of Spanish sides failing to get beyond the last-16 stage at the last three World Cups and falling in the last 16 and semi-finals of the last two European Championships.

Luis de la Fuente was appointed as boss in 2022, with instructions to draw a line under the past and start creating a new Spanish playing identity. Winning the 2023 Nations League, courtesy of a penalty shoot-out success against Croatia in the final, was a decent start, but given that Spain suffered an embarrassing defeat to Scotland while qualifying for the current Euros, hopes were hardly sky high before a ball was kicked in Germany.

Cast your mind back to the start of the tournament, and precious few pundits were backing Spain to triumph. France, England, Germany. All potential winners. Spain? Too early in their cycle of regeneration, and too few stars in their likely starting side.

Even within Spain itself, and despite the continued domestic strength of Real Madrid and Barcelona, pre-tournament ambitions were being downplayed. How would a defence featuring Aymeric Laporte and Robin Le Normand cope? Was Chelsea reserve Marc Cucurella really their best left-back? Could Alvaro Morata lead the line at the age of 31? And at the other end of the spectrum, was it realistic to expect Yamine Lamal to survive the rigours of a major tournament given that he was not yet 17?

All pertinent questions, yet de la Fuente insists he was always confident. Something was brewing, it was just a question of letting his players play. While most other sides have tackled the Euros with the handbrake on, de la Fuente has let his Spanish side attack. The result has been six wins from six, and near-unanimous acclaim as the best team in the tournament.

“We knew the raw materials we had,” said de la Fuente, after his side had come through a daunting-looking semi-final against France. “We knew the quality of these footballers.

“Individually, they are fantastic, but they make the collective benefit from their individual qualities. They always work for the common good, they are generous in their efforts, and this is just one more sign that this is an insatiable team that wants to keep improving.”

Championing the strength of the collective rather than pursuing vainglorious personal achievement, a la Cristiano Ronaldo, is exemplified by the presence of Rodri at the heart of pretty much everything Spain do. The Manchester City midfielder is surely the most selfless player in football – world class in terms of passing, positioning and shutting down opposition attacks, yet more than happy to slip into the shadows and avoid personal acclaim.

Spain midfielder Rodri (Image: PA)

Just as he is at City, Rodri is the fulcrum of the Spanish side. England’s midfielders somehow need to stop him dictating play tomorrow, with his relationship with his fellow midfielder, Fabian Ruiz, the starting point for most of Spain’s attacks.

Then, of course, there is the small matter of Lamal. He might be relatively diminutive, but his childlike grin, with his teeth hidden behind metal braces, betrays a genuinely remarkable footballing instinct and ability level. 

As you might have heard on one or two occasions in the last few weeks, Yamal is still just 16. He has been doing homework in between matches at Spain’s training base. For a brief while in the early stages of the tournament, there were fears that allowing him to play in night matches might contravene German employment law. Yet as last week’s semi-final win over France vividly illustrated, the Catalonian teenager, born to a mother from Equatorial Guinea and a father from Morocco, can certainly play.

His long-range goal against the French was a thing of beauty, but it was hardly an outlier. Yamal goes into tomorrow’s final with more assists to his name than any other player in the tournament. In all of his outings so far, he has had a significant impact on the final outcome, something England, and Kieran Trippier in particular (assuming he retains his place at left-back) will have to be extremely mindful of.

“We saw a touch of genius (with Yamal’s goal in the semi-final),” said de la Fuente. “We all know the footballer he is, and we all need to take care of him. I want to give him some advice the way I do in private – to work with humility and keep his feet on the ground, and learn with the same kind of attitude and maturity that he shows on the pitch.

“Fundamentally, I celebrate that he is Spanish. We count on him, and hope that we can enjoy him for many years to come.”

Lamal seems assured of a stellar future, but it is the present that will be de la Fuente’s prime concern tomorrow. Spain have sailed through the tournament so far, crushing Italy and Croatia in the so called ‘Group of Death’, thrashing Georgia in the last 16 and muscling aside Germany and France in heavyweight clashes to book their place in the final.

Can England take them to places they have not yet been? Or is a new era of Spanish dominance about to begin?

“Before starting the tournament, England and France would have been favourites, as well as Germany for the fact they were playing at home,” said de la Fuente. “We have had the chance to keep overcoming those games, and now we have another huge match.

“Maybe Spain have offered a better version so far at the finals (than England), but that won’t have any influence on a one-off game. It’s going to be tough, but we’re looking forward to this one. We want to keep growing. This group of players are going to keep fighting to try to win the trophy.”