Spain strike late to beat England 2-1 and win Euro 2024

Mikel Oyarzabal combined with Marc Cucurella on a swift counter-attack for the winning goal as Spain were crowned Euro 2024 champions, having won all seven games they played in the tournament.

Mikel Oyarzabal of Spain scores his team’s second goal as Jordan Pickford of England fails to make a save. (Photo: Dan Mullan / Getty Images)

After an extremely cautious first half where Spain had more possession and their opponents got the only shot on target, it only took two minutes after the restart for the Spaniards to break the deadlock.

Teenager Lamine Yamal found space down the right and crossed for fellow winger Nico Williams to slot home as England fell behind for the fourth successive match.

Nico Williams of Spain scores his team’s first goal while Kyle Walker of England tries to block his shot. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

Spain then enjoyed a purple patch with a series of attacks as England’s previously watertight defence fell apart.

England boss Gareth Southgate reacted by sending on Ollie Watkins, the goalscoring substitute hero of the semifinal, for an ineffective Harry Kane after an hour, with Cole Palmer, their most creative player for the past month, joining him 10 minutes later.

It paid off almost immediately when Jude Bellingham laid the ball back into Palmer’s path and the substitute curled home a precise low 20-metre shot in the 73rd minute.

Cole Palmer of England scores his team's first goal during the UEFA EURO 2024 final match between Spain and England at Olympiastadion on July 14, 2024 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

The massed ranks of England fans, who vastly outnumbered their rivals, exploded and the whole feel of the night changed.

Spain, however, weathered the storm and Oyarzabal, who came on in the 68th minute, struck.

There was still time for more drama at the other end as Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon parried a Declan Rice header from a corner and Dani Olmo blocked Marc Guehi’s follow-up on the line.

Marc Cucurella of Spain wins a header while challenged by Bukayo Saka of England. (Photo: Alex Grimm /Getty Images)

Dani Olmo of Spain heads the ball off of the line after a header from Marc Guehi of England. (Photo: Alex Grimm / Getty Images)

Spain survived to add a fourth title to those won in 1964, 2008 and 2012 and, as only the third team in the last nine Euros to win the trophy without coming through a shootout at some point in the tournament following France (2000) and Greece (2004), nobody can deny they were worthy winners.

For England, the “30 years of hurt” after their 1966 World Cup success, which was sung about at Euro 1996, will now run to at least double that number as they became the first team to lose successive Euro finals

Spain’s first goalscorer Nico Williams said: “Euphoric. All our people deserve it. We suffered a lot. They had a good team. They have players who can make the difference, but we were able to counter their weapons and in the end we won the European Championship and we are very happy.”

Spanish players celebrate at the final whistle after defeating England 2-1. (Photo: Alex Grimm /Getty Images)

Rodri of Spain holds up his Player of the Tournament trophy. (Photo: Lars Baron / Getty Images)

Spain’s match-winner Mikel Oyarzabal said of his heroics: “I have done my job. I did what I had to do at every moment to try to help. I was lucky enough to give the victory. Just the fact of being in the 26, you value it a lot here. To have the moment to help as it has happened to me is the best. It happened to me but could have happened to anyone.”

Harry Kane of England on a run while chased by Dani Olmo of Spain. (Photo: Dan Mullan / Getty Images)

England captain Harry Kane: “Losing in a final is as tough as it gets. We done really well to get back into the game, to get to 1-1. We could have used that momentum to push on. We couldn’t quite keep the ball and we got punished for it.

“It’s as painful as it could be in a football match.

“We didn’t keep the same intensity and pressure, we didn’t quite keep the ball well enough. It’s the last stage of the tournament. There’s a lot of tired legs, a lot of tired mentality there. We just struggled and obviously we got caught with the ball in behind.

“These are down to big moments. We had a big moment at the end where they cleared one off the line and it could have been different. It’s been a tough tournament. We’ve had to show a lot of resilience, me personally and the whole team. Right now, it’s just a huge disappointment.” Reuters/DM

Nations that have won the European Championship:

4 Spain.
3 Germany (two as West Germany).
2 France, Italy.
1 Russia (as USSR), Czech Republic (as Czechoslovakia), Netherlands, Denmark, Greece, Portugal.