There are suggestions that the era of possession-heavy positional play may have passed its zenith but, if that message worries Pep Guardiola disciples, Spain’s women remain unperturbed. As usual the world champions hogged the ball as they won a third consecutive group game at Euro 2025, scoring their 12th, 13th and 14th goals of the tournament in the process.
Yet while, in one sense, it was business as usual for Montse Tomé’s queens of on-field geometry, Italy actually did a pretty good job of emphasising that La Roja are mortal after all. Indeed in certain cameos it was almost possible to detect glimpses of the way in which this particular Spanish empire might eventually fall.
