England travel to west Berlin on Sunday to take on Spain in the Euro 2024 final – already a mammoth task. But there’s one stat that truly puts the challenge in context.
Gareth Southgate has once again led his charges to a Euros final. A 2-1 victory over the Netherlands, sealed by a stoppage-time winner from substitute Ollie Watkins, booked the Three Lions place at the Olympiastadion for the showdown with Spain.
La Roja didn’t enter the tournament as favourites but quickly established themselves as the team to beat, with formidable widemen in Nico Williams and the 16-year-old Lamine Yamal adding to a commanding midfield hosting the likes of Rodri and Fabian Ruiz. A tough task lies ahead for the Three Lions on 14 July; this stat shows the Spanish know a thing or two about handling the pressure of a final.
Over the last two decades, Spain haven't lost any final of a major international competition they’ve got to. No, really.
An era of dominance saw them lift the Euros twice in 2008 and 2012 – brushing aside Germany and Italy respectively – with the small matter of the 2010 World Cup sandwiched in between. Of course, they collected it after defeating the Netherlands in Johannesburg.
Spanish superiority doesn’t end there, however, as the same record also extends to the women’s national team. They famously knocked England down at the final hurdle in the 2023 World Cup in Sydney, a first-half Olga Carmona strike delivering the damage on that occasion.
That’s probably enough, right? Wrong. The Spaniards’ mastery of the big occasion stretches into the domestic game, with no Spanish side in the men’s game having lost a major European final to foreign opposition in the last 20 years.
It’s a huge record for Southgate’s men to overturn against opposition that already look a strong competitor on paper. There’s a big job to do on Sunday. That’s without considering the demons at home to exorcise, namely the crushing defeat on penalties to Italy on home soil in 2021.
A huge task lies ahead, as a whole nation watches on, willing the Three Lions to lift their first major silverware since 1966. If the Spanish’s track record in finals is anything to go by, you can be sure they won’t make it any easier.
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