Gabri Veiga couldn’t help laughing and nor could they. It didn’t take a genius or a journalism student, which he is, to work out what they were up to, and not just because they were no longer trying to hide it. Instead, they giggled along guiltily, the whole thing becoming a game. The Celta midfielder, Spanish football’s great revelation, had already fielded 10 questions and nine had essentially asked the same thing – who are you signing for? – when there was an inquiry about which competition he likes to watch, another attempt at laying a trap. “The Euros,” he said, and everyone cracked up.
It was a couple of days before Spain Under-21s flew to the European Championship – “a lovely challenge”, Veiga called it – but that wasn’t the focus of the final press conference at their Las Rozas HQ. Instead, it was all about Veiga’s future: Madrid or Serie A, the Premier League or Paris. He was even asked how long he had practised fending off the inevitable line of inquiry – “Not that long; I’m not used to speaking in public but I think I’m doing quite well” – and another question opened with an apology “but you’ll understand it’s our job to insist”. To which he replied: “And you’ll understand the Euros are the only thing in my head.”
If there was something eloquent in the exchange, it was not just there. Veiga’s claim that he prefers to watch the European Championship wasn’t shared. Not to start with, at least. Shown on state channel TVE1, The group phase drew less than half the accumulated viewing figures from 2019. Spain’s opening game had attracted 606,000 people, compared with 2.17m.
Soon, though, things improved: by the third game 836,000 watched and when extra time came round against Switzerland in the quarter-finals, 1.62m tuned in. Then 1.92m watched the 5-1 semi-final win against Ukraine, behind only Wheel of Fortune. That is still a million down on the semi four years ago and 5m tuning in against England on Saturday, as they did for the clash with France in 2019 is unlikely, but the figures will be high. It is a final, after all. Another one.
This team do not have the popular pull of previous Spain sides. After a long season with a World Cup in the middle and a Nations League final at the end, they left out Gavi, Pedri, Ferran Torres, Ansu Fati and Yeremi Pino, all of whom qualify despite becoming part of the senior setup. Players come instead from a dozen clubs, including three from Athletic, two from Real Sociedad, two from Osasuna, two from Girona, two from Braga.
There is only one from Barcelona – Arnau Tenas, who has not played a first-team game and is now out of contract – and one from Real Madrid: Antonio Blanco, who played on loan at Cádiz and Alavés. In terms of names, Veiga is the most attractive. A player who has just completed his first senior season, stylistically he is a little countercultural, a relatively late arrival and not not in the starting XI.
And yet here they are in the final. If all that might have diminished expectations and initial interest – in 2017, Spain’s typical XI had 56 Champions League appearances and more than 750 top flight games between them – perhaps there should have been more faith. There is talent there, if fewer “names”. Manchester City’s Sergio Gómez has made only two Premier League starts. Abel Ruiz, outstanding so far, has often played off the bench for Braga. Yet there are established players too: Álex Baena played 35 league games at Villarreal in the 2022-23 season; Oihan Sancet 36 at Athletic; Rodri 30 at Betis. Jon Pacheco and Juan Miranda are established at Real Sociedad and Betis respectively. It is a settled side too: six players, plus the coach Santi Denia, were European champions in at under-17 and under-19 level together, in 2017 and 2019.
Besides, it runs deeper. What makes this summer so striking is not that Spain have reached the final, although that may have surprised – they needed a late goal to draw with Ukraine in the group stage and extra time to defeat Switzerland – but that they have reached the final again. This would be a record sixth title. More significant, this is their fifth final in seven tournaments, their sixth semi-final. Champions in 2011, 2013 and 2019, runners-up in 2017, no one gets close. England have reached one other semi-final in that spell.
This is the success of a system, a model put in place by Ginés Meléndez across 17 years, starting in 2000. Built around an idea, an identity, it is based more on development than success, but competition matters. Stress is also placed on the pastoral, belonging. Francis Hernández, his successor, says it is not chance that kids who could represent more than one country choose Spain: there is a pathway, a progression, the best education. An export market, there are first-team opportunities at home, or options abroad.
Watch the inferiores play, Vicente del Bosque used to point out, and you knew it was Spain. That idea found continuity at the clubs’ academies – seven of this squad have been at Barcelona – and there is a line that runs through the coaches, too, described by Denia as the “best in the world”. No country has provided more Premier League managers; two Spaniards have just arrived in France.
One Euros does not prove anything and this summer also has its own, specific explanations, but this is not chance. Spain’s opponents – Ukraine, Romania, Croatia, Switzerland – have not been the traditional giants. Spain struggled against Ukraine in the group stage and they have had to fight as well as play. There have been tactical tweaks – Gómez swapping sides to help control Mykhailo Mudryk, for one – and this team play slightly deeper. But in the semi-final rematch with Ukraine, they were recognisably Spain: five goals, five different scorers. The players may not be stars who sit people in front of screens but there is an idea and “not stars” probably needs a yet on it.
“The message is: have the ball, be faithful to our model,” Santi Denia said, when the team who have dominated this competition for more than a decade did it again. “And I have 23 players who could play at any club.” Even if Gabri Veiga won’t say which. For now at least, the Euros is all he or anybody else cares about.
