Eighty-six minutes into a Berlin night, with England dragging themselves toward extra time, Marc Cucurella drove a low cross into the box and Mikel Oyarzabal slid onto the end of it. That was the European Championship final. Spain 2, England 1, on Sunday 14 July 2024.
Oyarzabal had started on the bench. “I did my job and what I had to and was lucky enough to score the goal for the win,” he said afterwards. With it, Spain took a record fourth European title and went past Germany’s three. It was their third in the last five tournaments, and their first major trophy since 2012. They also finished Euro 2024 with seven wins from seven.
Two teenagers, one early goal
The first half was cagey, scrappy on the ball and short of any final pass. Spain lost Rodri to injury at the break, the man named player of the tournament, yet they came out sharper. Within seconds of the restart, Lamine Yamal played in Nico Williams, and Williams steered a low shot past Jordan Pickford. The Guardian puts the goal in the 47th minute.
The pair carry a neat footnote. Williams had turned 22 on the Friday and Yamal turned 17 on the Saturday, so he was 17 years and one day old in the final. That made him the youngest player to appear in a men’s international final, breaking a record Pelé set at the 1958 World Cup. The pass for Williams was Yamal’s fourth assist of the tournament.
England answer, then fall short
Gareth Southgate’s side had spent most of the competition scraping through on moments of individual brilliance, such as Jude Bellingham’s overhead kick and Bukayo Saka’s long-range shots. Harry Kane, the captain, never found his rhythm in Germany, though he did end up among a record six players on three goals, sharing the Golden Boot. Just after the hour mark Southgate took him off for Ollie Watkins.
Cole Palmer came on too, and three minutes later his shot from long range deflected into the bottom corner on 73 minutes. It was the fourth knockout game in a row in which England had fallen behind and recovered. Thousands of English fans in the Olympic Stadium, audibly louder than the Spanish, briefly dared to think of another shootout.
They did not get one. Spain kept their composure, and Cucurella’s cross did the rest. “It’s an opportunity missed,” Kane said. “These finals aren’t easy to get to. You have to take it when it comes and we haven’t done it again. It’s extremely painful and it’ll hurt for a long time.”
Luis de la Fuente, Spain’s coach, said the team had deservedly been crowned European champion. Spain had also knocked out the hosts in the quarter-finals. At the final, some German supporters were still booing Cucurella over a handball call that had gone against them more than a week earlier.
For England, it was a second Euros final in a row, and a second defeat. Southgate’s 102nd game in charge might be his last, the Guardian wrote.
Sources
- Euro 2024: Spain strike late, beating England 2-1 in final (Deutsche Welle)
- Mikel Oyarzabal's late winner for Spain crushes England's Euro 2024 dream (The Guardian)
