Spain and England will face each other in the final of the 2024 European Championship

A brilliant Spanish team featuring teenage sensation Lamine Yamal will face England in the final of the 2024 European Championship at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on Sunday to claim the first major international men’s trophy in almost 60 years.

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Spain are the standout team at this European Championship, having reached the final by beating title holders Italy, hosts Germany and favourites France.

England, on the other hand, struggled to make it to Berlin, going four games in a row without winning inside 90 minutes until Ollie Watkins gave them a 2-1 semi-final victory over the Netherlands in the final minute.

But a team led by Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane has enough winners to believe they can challenge Spain and end England’s glory days, which date back to the 1966 World Cup.

Unlike the England women, who won their equivalent event two years ago, the England men have never won the European Championship.

– Two consecutive European Championship finals –

However, this is their second continental final in a row, following their painful penalty defeat to Italy in 2021. The memory of that will motivate them to push on in their first ever final on foreign soil.

“Seeing Italy lift that trophy will stay with me forever,” midfielder Declan Rice told the BBC.

“We now have a new chance to write our own history, but we are playing against another top club that we must have enormous respect for.”

England produced some of their best football at the tournament against the Dutch in Dortmund, although they needed a controversial penalty from Kane to cancel out Xavi Simons’ opening goal before substitute Watkins scored the winner.

Since beating Serbia 1-0 in their opening match, Gareth Southgate’s side have led for a total of around 20 minutes of regular time across five games.

They played unconvincing draws against Denmark and Slovenia, but won in extra time in the round of 16 against Slovakia, only to have the ball saved in injury time by a Bellingham bicycle kick.

They came from behind against Switzerland in the round of 16 but only went through on penalties, but the Netherlands’ performance should give them confidence.

“We’re here to win. We’re playing the team that’s the best team in the tournament and we’ve got one day less to prepare, so it’s a huge task,” admitted Southgate, whose future after Sunday’s final is currently uncertain.

– Spanish revival –

Spain’s form makes them favourites for the first meeting between the two teams at a World Cup or European Championship since 1996.

While England under Southgate have consistently reached the latter stages of tournaments, Euro 2024 has confirmed the revival of the country that dominated international football more than a decade ago.

La Roja became European champions twice in a row, in 2008 and 2012. In 2010 the team was also successful at the World Cup.

They did not win another knockout match at a tournament until they reached the semi-finals of Euro 2020. At the last World Cup, however, they were knocked out in the round of 16.

Luis de la Fuente later became coach and oversaw a remarkable series of results.

Spain won last year’s UEFA Nations League and started the European Championship with a 3-0 victory over 2022 World Cup semi-finalists Croatia in Berlin.

They outscored Italy and should have won by more than 1-0, ending the group stage as the only team with maximum points and no goals conceded.

They beat Georgia with ease in the knockout rounds, before facing tough tests against Germany in Stuttgart and then France on Tuesday in Munich, where Yamal became the youngest ever European Championship goalscorer at 16 years and 362 days.

With Yamal, 17 on Saturday, on one wing, Nico Williams on the other and Dani Olmo supporting Alvaro Morata in the middle, Spain have an attack that has scored 13 goals en route to the final, compared to England’s seven.

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De la Fuente can also call on the best controlling midfielder in the world in Rodri, but Spain remain wary of their opponents.

“England have shown so far that they can come back in games where they start to lose,” Olmo said on Friday as Spain lifted the Henri Delaunay Trophy for a record fourth time.

“It’s a team that never gives up, that’s for sure.”

Defenders Dani Carvajal and Robin Le Normand both missed Spain’s semi-final against France through suspension, but will return for the final, which will be managed by Frenchman Francois Letexier.