The Briefing: Spain 2 England 1 – Oyarzabal the unlikely hero with late winner in Euro 2024 final

Spain have been crowned champions of Europe after beating England 2-1 in the Euro 2024 final in Berlin, with substitute Mikel Oyarzabal scoring their winning goal in the 86th minute.

It means England have now been beaten in consecutive European Championship finals, having also lost to Italy at Wembley in 2021.

Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams combined brilliantly for the latter to give Spain the lead 75 seconds into the second half, after their influential midfielder Rodri was withdrawn at the break with a hamstring injury. England hit back through Cole Palmer in the 73rd minute, before Oyarzabal won it for Spain in the closing stages.

Mark Carey, Liam Tharme, Dermot Corrigan and Jacob Whitehead analyse the key talking points from Berlin…

Who is Oyarzabal, Spain’s unlikely hero?

One of the first decisions that Luis de la Fuente made on taking over as Spain coach was to make Oyarzabal one of his vice-captains, breaking with tradition to add a younger and less-capped player to the squad’s leadership group.

That was because De la Fuente so highly valued his fellow Basque’s influence on and off the pitch. Made Real Sociedad captain in his early twenties, Oyarzabal has always been a versatile and intelligent attacker, but never a truly prolific goalscorer. De la Fuente also knew him, and rated him, as a key member of the Spain team he coached to Under-21 European Championship success in 2019. 

But he has a knack for scoring important goals in big games, having got the winner in the 2020 Copa del Rey final, scoring from the penalty spot to beat Basque rivals Athletic Bilbao. But he then missed World Cup 2022 with a serious knee injury.

So when Alvaro Morata needed replacing midway through the second half here, it was not Real Madrid’s Champions League-winning Joselu who De la Fuente turned to. Instead, it was the player the coach knows and trusts so well. Then, when the moment came, the timing of the run was so good, just remaining onside, and the finish was true and unstoppable.

The coach’s trust was paid back with one of the most important goals in Spanish football history. 

Dermot Corrigan

Bellingham switched off for first goal — but made up for it with Palmer assist

Major tournament finals are for heroes and villains.

Jude Bellingham has so often been the former for England, but he did not pick up Dani Carvajal or Yamal for the opener.

England switched to a more aggressive 4-4-2 press with Rodri off (Phil Foden had been man-marking him), using Bellingham as the left midfielder in that shape. That right-sided rotation has been a feature of Spain’s play all tournament, with Yamal rolling inside and Carvajal pushing on.

Bellingham let Carvajal advance…

… and called for a defender to step up to mark Yamal, though Luke Shaw was left two-v-one here.

Bellingham was caught not marking either the full-back or the winger. Spain’s combination was incisive — Robin Le Normand to Carvajal, inside to Yamal…

…who then dribbled and provided the perfect pass for Williams on the opposite side.

In Bellingham fashion, he atoned completely for that error with the assist for Palmer’s equaliser (also, throughout the game he won nine of 14 ground duels and nutmegged Rodri).

He spent so much of the game scrapping against Spain’s midfielders, and took contact in setting the ball back for Palmer to pick out the bottom corner.

At only 21, Bellingham continues to step up when needed in finals for club and country. His biggest strength is being able to play what the game needs and that showed again in Berlin. Who else?

Liam Tharme

Free-scoring Spain are deserved tournament winners

Williams’ opening goal was Spain’s 14th in this tournament, more than they had ever scored at a European Championship or a World Cup, and matching France, the winners in 1984, for the top scorers in Euros history. Oyarzabal’s winner nudged them ahead.

Spain won three from three in the group stage — beginning with a 3-0 win over Croatia, then edging Italy 1-0 and, with qualification already secured, rotating for the 1-0 defeat of Albania.

The drama really began for Spain in the knockout phase.

Georgia took a shock lead and brought back memories of tournament defeats to Russia and Morocco, before Rodri equalised and Spain roared away to victory in the second half. Getting pegged back against Germany in the quarter-finals, but climbing off the canvas to land a knockout blow. Going one down to France in the semis, but firing back through Yamal and Dani Olmo wondergoals to make the final. 

Excludes own goals

After Williams’ beautifully constructed and neatly finished goal against England, Spain did not sit back. They could easily have made it 2-0, with Williams, Olmo and Yamal all having decent shots, and Jordan Pickford saving well from the Barcelona teenager. All three then combined to set up another chance for Yamal, which the Everton goalkeeper again pushed away.

With extra time looming, it was Spain who were looking to win the game within the 90 minutes. And with four minutes left, the winner came, substitute striker Oyarzabal producing a stabbed finish from Marc Cucurella’s cross.

Nobody has ever scored 15 goals at a European Championship until De la Fuente’s young, exciting, and ambitious Spain team came along, and their attacking approach paid off with the trophy.

Dermot Corrigan

Rodri injury did not derail Spain in Berlin

Rodri got through a phenomenal amount of work in the first 45 minutes of the game; as usual, being influential from his position holding in midfield. 

Yamal’s early half-chance came after Rodri had robbed Foden deep in England’s half. The Manchester City midfielder also stopped Bellingham from breaking a few times with neat interventions near halfway.

Rodri was also in action near his own box when required. Early in the half, he sprang out to block a Declan Rice 25-yard shot, and close to half-time he again threw himself to get in the way of a Harry Kane effort from the edge of the penalty area.

However, that intervention was to be Rodri’s final contribution to the game. The stretch led to a pulled hamstring, with his body giving up in what was his 63rd appearance of a super-long season.

Rodri injured his hamstring (Getty Images)

On came the much less experienced but highly rated Martin Zubimendi, of Real Sociedad, and almost immediately Spain were ahead. Now Zubimendi’s role was to help Spain control the ball and the game. The Basque did not see that role negatively, soon taking off on a driving run forward, forcing John Stones into a foul which saw the England defender booked.

Mostly though, Zubimendi slotted into a position in front of his back four, keeping it simple with the ball, with Fabian Ruiz often close by, continuing his excellent tournament with more subtle and precise passing. It looked good when Spain were looking to add to their 1-0 lead, but there was a big Rodri-sized hole when the ball fell to Palmer on the edge of the box, with Zubimendi nowhere near to block the equaliser.

Dermot Corrigan

The battle between Shaw and Yamal

It was a big call for England coach Gareth Southgate to name Shaw in the starting XI for the first time this summer, and his first start of any kind since February because of injury. 

Shaw had the small task of looking after the most electric player in European football, Yamal, who has lit up the competition with his creative threat and thunderous striking ability. There was a case to be made that Kieran Trippier might have (finally) been a better option on the night, with Yamal likely to drift infield onto Trippier’s stronger right foot, but fit-again Shaw started excellently as he largely kept the teenager quiet in the first half.

He got tight to Yamal out of possession, and ensuring that the 17-year-old rarely had room to stretch his legs and build up any momentum in the game. Crucially, Shaw forced Yamal to think of his defensive responsibilities just as much as his attacking duties when England’s left-back offered runs forward on the occasions that Southgate’s men broke forward.

However, Yamal doesn’t need many opportunities to punish you. Within seconds of the second half kicking off, Shaw got caught ahead of Yamal, who spun in behind to receive the ball from Carvajal, shrugged off Shaw’s challenge, and played a perfectly-weighted pass for Williams to finish first time.

Having a naturally left-footed player at left-back was bound to provide more balance to the England team, and Southgate knew that picking Shaw in the squad was a decision made for the latter stages of the tournament, given his injury issues. True to his word, he trusted Shaw — the only starting player to have scored in a European Championship final before — on the biggest stage.

Shaw largely did well, but one moment was all it took for Yamal to make his mark on the contest.

Mark Carey

Kane struggled again for England

Kane has had moments at this tournament — the winner versus Slovakia, his nerveless penalty to equalise against the Netherlands, but this has not been a competition where he has been at his all-court best.

In the final, his movement was as laboured as it has been throughout the tournament, with Spain’s centre-backs able to press up aggressively, not worried about him running in behind. On an early yellow card, and struggling to find team-mates with his hold-up play, there were reasons for Southgate to make an early change up front.

This was accelerated when Williams scored right after half-time. Another 10 minutes passed, without Kane finding the ball, and Southgate acted. Ollie Watkins, who had come off the bench and scored a 90th-minute winner against the Dutch in the semi-final, replaced the England captain after an hour. Kane’s last action was to throw up his arms in exasperation when Foden’s cross could not find him, and to hand the armband over to Kyle Walker.

Southgate’s other move was to replace Kobbie Mainoo with Palmer on 70 minutes, moving Bellingham into midfield — and adding the creator of the semi-final goal onto the pitch. Just three minutes after Palmer came on — a moment for England. Bukayo Saka was played into space down the right, and his inside ball found Bellingham. The Real Madrid player was calm to lay the ball off to Palmer — but the Chelsea man was even calmer, taking tiny steps to ensure he remained over the ball and passing into the net from 25 yards.

For a fourth successive knockout tie at Euro 2024, England had equalised.

Jacob Whitehead

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(Top photo: Richard Pelham/Getty Images)