Spain beats England to clinch its record fourth European Championship

Spain beat England 2-1 in Berlin on Sunday to win the 2024 European Championship. It's Spain's third Euro title in this century and fourth overall. No other country has won more.

From the outset, this match seemed hazy and tough to predict. Spain had created the biggest expected goals figure of any team in the Euro 2024; England had restricted its opponents to the smallest. As the first half got underway, it felt as if two legends were stepping out of the shadows to reveal their true forms.

Legend No. 1: Spain, the best team in the tournament by far, is high on its transition to a modern, more direct style of play. But for all the talk of a "new" Spain this tournament, its first half in the final was defined by a very "old" Spain problem: lots of possession in midfield but very little action to show for it. Manchester City's Rodri and Paris Saint Germain's Fabian Ruiz were easily the two best and most important players on the field in the opening 45 minutes, but for all their orchestration, Spain managed just one shot on target.

Legend No. 2: England, a team without a world-class defender, still defended better than anyone in the world. England was pilloried by its own fandom earlier in the tournament for gameplay deemed " too bad to be boring ," but that gameplay earned England its place in the final fair and square. Conservative soccer isn't always pretty, but it tends to be successful in tournaments, and England played it perfectly all summer even while its own support cried foul.

It took a full 45 minutes for the game to warm up, but as the teams trotted out for the second half — Spain without Rodri, who left with an injury and ceded his place to Martin Zubimendi — things got spicy quickly. Spain scored within minutes of the second-half whistle thanks to brilliant build-up play from Dani Carvajal and a perfectly weighted shot from Nico Williams.

Lamine Yamal has been Spain's story this summer, but 22-year-old Williams has been the action. He was Spain's most dangerous attacker in each of its knockout games and brought this final to life with his antics on the wing.

England, perhaps inspired by the performances of Spain's young players like Yamal and Williams, subbed off captain Harry Kane shortly thereafter and brought on two up-and-coming attackers in his place: Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins and Chelsea's Cole Palmer. Their introduction swung the game in England's favor and brought about England's equalizer in the 73rd minute. Palmer wound up scoring with one of his first kicks of the ball: his clever run split Spain's defense and carved it open in seconds.

But it was Spain that had more gas in the tank as the minutes ticked down and extra time loomed. Mikel Oyarzabal — perhaps the most unheralded player in this Spain lineup — sprinted down the center of the field and got behind John Stones and Marc Guehi in the 86th minute. His run was onside by centimeters, and those centimeters gave him just enough space to fire a shot past Jordan Pickford in the England goal. It was quick, it was easy, and it was against the run of play, but it was enough to tilt the game in Spain's favor and deliver the trophy.

Spain's victory caps off an incredible tournament for La Furia Roja. It won every single game it played and did so while scoring more goals than anyone else. England can, and should, be proud of its efforts over the course of the tournament, but Spain's victory felt destined from the moment it thumped Croatia 3-0 in its opening game.

European soccer will now take a short break before the league season begins. The Premier League returns on Aug. 16, while Spain's La Liga returns a day earlier on Aug. 15.