Spain Win Euro 2024- Is It Deserved?

Last night Spain won the 2024 Euro in an exciting final against England which La Roja decided with a late winner in the 86th minute by Mikel Oyarzabal to make it a 2-1 triumph for the Spanish.

2024 CHAMPIONS: Spain 🇪🇸#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/8jGoI5ZSv0

— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) July 14, 2024

With that victory Spain has not just won the Euros but also broken two records: the first team to win the tournament with seven straight wins and the only nation with four Euro titles.

England on the other hand broke a rather negative record. Not a single team has lost back-to-back Euro finals until the Three Lions last night. Though their journey through the tournament was criticised, it was heartbreaking to see the team after the game considering most of them have been there for the 2020 Euros loss as well.

We fell short of what we wanted to achieve this summer, but this group gave everything and have done us proud.

Your support in Germany and back home has been incredible. Thank you. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/YBivqQXfJe

— England (@England) July 14, 2024

It is safe to say, Spain was the team to beat this tournament and no one managed to do so. For the last time in this tournament, we will take a look at the English and Spanish national teams and if they deserved their record-breaking title.

Spain domination throughout the 2024 Euros

Spain started their tournament with a win and since then have won every game including the final - something a nation has never done before.

At the start of the Euros, Spain was, alongside England, one of the favourites to win it all and after the first match day, it was obvious that they were the team to beat.

In the group stage they beat Croatia, Italy and Albania before winning the round of 16 against Georgia. All these games, Spain won with dominance and in four games they had only conceded once - an own goal from Robin Le Normand in their match against Georgia.

🚨🚨🇪🇸 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 | SPAIN HAVE WON #EURO2024

7 GAMES, 7 WINS — INCREDIBLE! ✅ pic.twitter.com/OQVVLiLj6O

— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) July 14, 2024

The first time, we saw signs of struggles was in the quarter finals against Germany but even there they won the game with a 2-1 after extra-time. While it is debatable whether that was a fair win or not because of a Marc Cucurella handball, their actual football performance was consistent.

The whistles and boos against Spain's Marc Cucurella are unmatched in the #EURO2024 final 🤬

Germany fans are not going to forget that handball decision any time soon 👀#ESPENG #ESPGER pic.twitter.com/ajS8C4uM3v

— DW Sports (@dw_sports) July 14, 2024

While their semi-finals against France went fairly smoothly again, the final against England seemed like a little bit of a repeat of the Germany game: England played okay, Spain did not play their best and had some help from the referees.

While we saw the handball by Cucurella and an extremely unnecessary foul by Daniel Carvajal on Jamal Musiala in the Germany game, in the England game it was questionable how referee Francois Letexier blew the whistle exactly after four minutes of injury time although Spanish players spent at least three of them on the floor, time wasting.

Nonetheless, the times where Spain played proper football, which was mainly when they were behind or it was a draw, they showed immense quality and probably showed us the best football from the tournament.

Back-to-back Euros finals for England but both were lost - A step in the right direction or is it just not enough?

Gareth Southgate is the first England manager to ever lead his team to a Euros final and he has done it twice in a row. There is no doubt that he must be doing something right but he also seems like he cannot go the whole way to actually win something.

England has arguably played boring football this tournament and got lucky in a couple of situations, especially with scoring late goals but in the end they beat who they had to beat - apart from Spain.

It is devastating to see so much talent in a squad not being used to perform decently within a team, but throughout the tournament there was an increase of performance, with their best game being England’s semi-final clash against the Netherlands.

Spain were, at the end of the day, the better team and going into the final, England were not expected to win the match but with Cole Palmer's equalizer it created hope again that was taken away again shortly after.

The future of Southgate is uncertain and it is hard to predict whether he will stay manager or not. He achieved more at the Euros than any other England manager ever has but he is still without victory which is why it might be time to make room for someone with a new perspective who can finish a tournament with silverware.

What do Spain have that England do not?

To keep it short, Spain has the unity and team spirit that England was missing throughout the whole tournament. Every time Spain were on the pitch, the team harmonised well despite having a few changes in their lineup throughout the middle of the tournament, with Pedri getting injured and Dani Olmo replacing him from the semi-finals onwards.

🚨🥇 Euro 2024 Top Scorer: Dani Olmo. 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/vRisRn5rvh

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 14, 2024

That reason is the only one that explains why Spain looked so much better on the pitch because England has the talent, they have got the ambitious young players but also players with experience and they have the team with the highest market value in the whole of Europe.

For the 2026 World Cup the Three Lions have got a lot of work to do, especially regarding teamwork on the pitch. Outside the stadium the players seem to get along well from what we saw on social media during their time at the camp, but they will have to bring that unity onto the pitch.

It may not be coming home, but the England Team have still made us proud! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿⚽

Well done to Gareth Southgate and the entire @England squad.#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/ZbmWJORSNK

— ITV (@ITV) July 14, 2024

Overall, England have got the quality to win a major tournament again and they already had it four years ago at the last Euros but until now, they have not been able to show their whole talent.

Spain on the other side, deservedly won the 2024 Euros in Germany and took home the silverware they were expected to win before the tournament had even started. Nonetheless, Spain need to work on their fair play because a couple of scenes, especially in the last stages of games, were not just unnecessary but also unfair towards their opponents.