How Spain, proactive and tireless, defeated England in the European Championship final

Yet the tiki-taka style synonymous with La Roja’s 2008-12 dynasty — when Spain savaged opponents while winning two European Championships and a World Cup — has given way to a more proactive approach. While Spain won possession five times in the seven games it played in Berlin to lift the trophy, the other two matches marked the first time it had not had the lion’s share of the ball since 2008 — snapping an astonishing 136-game streak.

Such was Luis de la Fuente’s unparalleled pragmatism at Euro 2024. When the coach took over the Spanish national team in December 2022, the team had just been knocked out of the World Cup in the round of 16 with a shootout loss to Morocco. Aside from a run to the semi-finals at Euro 2020, the Spanish had suffered nothing but early exits from the tournament since their most recent major title in 2012. So de la Fuente added a touch of youthful ruthlessness to Spain’s attack, flanking veteran striker Álvaro Morata with a pair of dynamic wingers in Nico Williams (who turned 22 on Friday) and Lamine Yamal (who turned 17 on Saturday). When midfielder Pedri injured his knee in the quarter-final against Germany, de la Fuente adjusted his formation from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 to accommodate Dani Olmo as a more attacking-minded replacement.

The proactive mentality paid off during the tournament, as Spain went on an unprecedented 7-0-0 run with 15 goals scored and four conceded. To close out the series on Sunday, Spain suffocated England with relentless possession and pressure. Whenever the Spanish lost the ball — usually after a long, exhausting spell of possession — Williams, Yamal and co. would chase England down in the hope of winning it back quickly.

Take Williams’ opening goal in the 47th minute. The goal was the culmination of a 10-pass sequence that began with Spain methodically moving the ball around the defence, but the attack itself unfolded in the blink of an eye. When Dani Carvajal connected with Ruiz’s simple pass near midfield, the right-back used an outside-of-foot flick to intercept Yamal’s clever run past England left-back Luke Shaw. Yamal cut inside and raced at the England defence, only to see Williams bomb down the opposite flank undetected. With England right-back Kyle Walker sucked in by Olmo’s penetrating run, Williams was free to deposit Yamal’s well-weighted serve past goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

Substitute Mikel Oyarzabal’s 86th-minute winner unfolded even more quickly — over six passes and 13 seconds, to be precise. Oyarzabal collected a cross from Olmo, flicked a pass wide to Marc Cucurella, crashed into the penalty area and fired home the left back’s pinpoint cross. By the time England recognized the threat, Pickford had plucked the ball out of his net.

The vertical approach was a big difference to previous Spanish teams who became predictable as they moved the ball from side to side and were reluctant to give crosses. For example, Spain attempted 23 crosses while England gave six.

For England, conservative tactics neutralised Spain for 45 minutes, while simultaneously hampering the Three Lions’ own playmakers. Playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation (which occasionally shifted to more of a 5-3-2) and a defensive mid-block, England conceded few chances and created even fewer. It wasn’t until the second-half introductions of striker Ollie Watkins and playmaker Cole Palmer that England came alive, with left winger Jude Bellingham swapping places with Phil Foden in the centre and right winger Bukayo Saka given the green light to push forward. Sure enough, Palmer’s 73rd-minute equaliser came courtesy of a clever touch from Bellingham after a weaving run from Saka.

Yet the final result was just one. Analytics firm Opta gave Spain’s “expected goals” — a measure of how often a team should score with typical finishing — as 1.77. England’s expected goals? A paltry 0.57. While Spain managed 60 passes into the attacking third, England managed just 19. And most importantly, the Three Lions couldn’t get enough of their two biggest stars. According to stats site WhoScored, Real Madrid’s Bellingham completed 21 of 31 passes and Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane completed 5 of 10 — the two lowest percentages of any outfield player on Sunday.

For comparison, Williams had a 38-for-42 passing day, Yamal went 23-for-30, and the duo tied for a game-high three “key” passes. At this point, it’s safe to say that Spain have two wingers who could redefine La Roja’s style of play for the next decade. Welcome, in other words, to the Spanish evolution.