Credit: UEFA
On Sunday 14 July 2024, Spain defeated England 2-1 in Berlin to win the UEFA EURO 2024 European Championships and lift the trophy.
In a rather cagey first half, both teams were preferring to put an emphasis on defending rather than attacking, with the result that there were few opportunities for either side, as well as for the audience both in the stadium and around the world watching live on television.
However, even with their talismanic captain Rodri being replaced by Martin Zubimendi at half time, Spain took the lead with less than two minutes of the restart, with Williams slotting the ball home from the left wing after a fluid move that caught England's defence napping.
However, as in other games, once England had conceded a goal, they came out fighting. Manager Gareth Southgate replaced captain and talisman Harry Kane on the hour mark, with Ollie Watkins coming on in his place, with Cole Palmer and Ivan Toney also seeing some game time, coming on for Kobbie Mainoo (72 mins) and Phil Foden (91 minutes) respectively.
England looked sharper and, within a minute of Palmer coming on, he rifled a long-range shot past the diving Unai Simon, finishing off a stong England attack down the right flank.
With four minutes of time left to play, and with the game looking as if it would go into injury time, Spain caught the England defence napping once more, this time substitute Mikel Oyarzabal on the pitch just nine minutes finishing off a quick-fire move to send the Spanish friends into a frenzy.
England did all they could to get an elusive equaliser, with the ball ricocheting around the Spanish box and Marc Guehi's header cleared off the goal line.
That was as close as they came, and the referee blew for full time after an agonising four minutes of additional time being played.
Spain had won an unprecedented fourth UEFA European Championship and England had lost their second final in a row, after being defeated by Italy on penalties three years ago at Wembley in London.
