Euro 2024 end sunday with two of the strongest teams in Europe going head to head in Berlin for the most coveted trophy in European football.
Will La Roja – tipped by many as the favourites stop Three Lions from taking football home once again or will the English finally end their long wait for a major trophy since 1966?
Taking a look at Spain’s trip to Berlin, the La Roja made a complete mockery of the so-called ‘Group of Death’, amassing nine points from a possible nine against 2018 World Cup runners-up Croatia, reigning European champions Italy and the unfancied Albanians, ending the first phase as the only nation with a 100% record both points-wise and defensive-wise.
Despite conceding first against tournament debutants Georgia – (a own goal by Robin Le Normand), they did not spare Georgia beating them 4-1 before ousting the hosts Germany in the quarter-finals.
16-year-old phenom that is Lamine Yamal lit up the Allianz Arena with the goal that made him the youngest scorer in Euros history as De la Fuente’s men send Les Bleus out of the tournament in the semifinal, picking up the ticket to their sixth major tournament final.
Champions of the continent in 1964, 2008 and 2012, Spain can not only earn another engraving on the Henri Delaunay Trophy, but also a slice of footballing history; by breaking English hearts on Sunday, they would become the first-ever European men’s team to win four major tournament finals on the spin.
Prior to pitting their wits against Ronald Koeman’s men at the Signal Iduna Park, only one of England’s five matches at Euro 2024 – their opening scrap with Serbia – saw Gareth Southgate’s charges get the job done in 90 minutes, leading to the all-too familiar wave of vicious vitriol towards the much-maligned Three Lions boss.
Drab draws with Denmark and Slovenia – where England looked jaded, disjointed and fresh out of offensive ideas – did little to galvanise the nation either, and nor did their extremely unconvincing last-16 success over Slovakia, who were only denied a famous success by the astonishing acrobatics of Jude Bellingham.
The Three Lions’ quarter-final match against Switzerland was saved by another youngster in Bukayo Saka. Substitutes Cole Palmer and Ollie Watkins combined together to produce a match winner for Southgate’s men in the semifinal against Netherlands after going behind to the Dutch early in the game.
England became the first side to ever reach the Euros final after trailing in both the quarters and the semis, while Kane has now scored more major tournament knockout goals than any other European man in history.
FACTS:
England have prevailed in each of their last six Euros matches when shipping the opening goal, winning five of them.
This will be the first time England senior men’s team will compete in a major tournament final on foreign soil.
Spain are also just two goals away from breaking the record for the most goals at one edition of the European Championships. 13 goals already.
Spain have recorded 16 wins from their last 18 matches.
A high-stakes showdown in Dortmund tonight will determines which team progresses to Sunday’s decider, where Spain is already waiting after defeating France 2-1 on Tuesday.
Seeking their second European title, after lifting the Henri Delaunay trophy in Germany 36 summers ago, Koeman’s men are making their way through the so-called ‘weaker’ half of the draw, having only emerged from Group D in third place.
Following victory over Poland, a draw with France, and an eventful defeat to Austria, the Oranje were handed a relatively kind last-16 tie against Romania, in which they ultimately ran out 3-0 winners.
Through to a third major tournament semi-final in four attempts, England are gradually ecoming a regular at major tournaments final four. They got to this year’s Euro semis after edging Switzerland in a keenly contested game 5-3 on penalties as the game got tied 1-1 after 120 minutes of intensed actions.
The Three Lions reached a fourth European Championship semi-final overall by seeing off Switzerland in last week’s quarter-finals.
This will be the fourth major-tournament meeting betweeen the Three Lions and the Oranje. Netherlands won 3-1 en route to glory at Euro ’88, followed by a goalless draw at the 1990 World Cup and then a famous 4-1 England win in 1996.
FACTS:
This is England’s fourth European Championship semi-final.
This will be the fourth competitive meeting in major tournaments between both sides.
England have won just one of the nations’ last nine meetings in all competitions
With two games to the final of the UEFA EURO 2024, Spain and France will on Tuesday night lockons for one of the two final tickets in Munich.
Flawless in the competition so far, La Roja made it to Munich by eliminating their hosts in the previous round; meanwhile, Les Bleus reached the final four via a tense penalty shootout win over Portugal.
A formidable force under Luis de la Fuente, Spain are the only team to have won all five matches thus far, and no nation in European Championship history has won six times in a single finals, or even posted six wins in a row.
Spain have progressed from four of five European Championship semi-finals to date – though they lost on penalties to eventual winners Italy at this stage three years ago – and will now fight for the right to meet either England or the Netherlands on Sunday.
France are aiming to reach a fourth European Championship decider, but only the second played away from French soil.
Didier Deschamps presided over the most recent one – 2016’s defeat to Portugal in Paris – and the double World Cup winner is intent on going one better this time around.
FACTS:
Spain are still unbeaten in this year’s Euro. They have won all of their five games played.
La Roja have the best win percentage of any European nation since 2023, winning 15 of their 19 games under De la Fuente.
Spain have progressed from four of five European Championship semi-finals.
France defeated Spain in their most recent meeting 2-1.
This will be the sixth meeting between Spain and France at a major tournament.
The MHPArena in Stuttgart will on Friday evening host two European juggernauts who are aiming for their fourth European Championship, Spain locking horns with Euro 2024 hosts Germany in the first quarter-finals.
This eagerly-anticipated contest will draw attention of people from all over the world with the winner of the clash to play the winner of the last-eight tie between Portugal and France in the semi-finals.
Spain remain the only nation at Euro 2024 who boast a perfect record from four matches after coming from behind to beat Georgia 4-1 in the last 16 clash.
Ranked eighth in the world by FIFA, Spain head into Friday’s blockbuster battle having not lost any of their last six competitive meetings (W3 D3) with Germany dating back to 1998, most recently playing out a 1-1 group-stage draw at the 2022 World Cup.
Hosts Germany remain on course to win their first European Championship title since 1996 after they battled past a competitive Denmark outfit to win 2-0 in the round of 16 last Saturday.
Germany rank in the top three for the most goals scored (10), most attacks (265), most attempts on goal (71), highest average possession (62%) and goals conceded (two) heading into the last eight of Euro 2024, and with a vibrant home crowd behind them, Die Mannschaft have become a force to be reckoned with.
FACTS:
Spain are unbeaten in their last six competitive meetings (W3 D3) with Germany dating back to 1998.
Spain are the only nation at Euro 2024 who boast a perfect record from four matches.
Friday’s clash will be Germany’s 19th quarter-final across the World Cup (14) and Euros (five), the most of any European nation at these two major tournaments.
Germany rank in the top three for the most goals scored (10), most attacks (265), most attempts on goal (71), highest average possession (62%) and goals conceded (two) heading into the last eight of Euro 2024.
High-flying Italian side will kick-off their Euros defense against Albania tonight Signal Idunna Park.
While the Azzurri are ultimately aiming to win back-to-back Euros, their neighbours are simply hoping to advance from the group stage on just their second major tournament appearance.
Now taking part at an 11th European Championship, Italy can join Germany and Spain on three wins if they go on to retain the Henri Delaunay Trophy next month in Berlin.
They will also attempt to become just the second team to win successive Euros after their Spanish counterparts did so in 2008 and 2012 – but few pundits have Luciano Spalletti’s side among the favourites to prevail.
While Italy nervously edged past Ukraine to qualify, Albania topped their group in some style: after losing their opening game against Poland, they went unbeaten through the next seven, finishing ahead of both the Poles and second-placed Czech Republic.
The Euro 2024 draw was not kind, though, and their first fixture brings them face-to-face with some familiar foes – no fewer than nine players in the Albanian squad play their club football in Serie A.
In addition to compatriots Edy Reja and Christian Panucci, Italian coach Gianni De Biasi previously held the post of Albania manager, taking his adopted country to Euro 2016, where they secured their sole victory at a major finals to date – against Romania in the final group game.
The Eagles were still eliminated on that occasion, and current coach Sylvinho – the first Brazilian boss to lead a side at the Euros since Luiz Felipe Scolari in 2008 – has a huge job on his hands to avoid an early exit in Germany.
Italy have conceded a miserly sum of just six goals across their last 12 matches in the competition.
The Azzurri have arrived in Germany unbeaten in six games.
La Nazionale have not conceded a goal in their last 317 minutes of play – including a 0-0 draw with Turkey and Sunday’s 1-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina in two pre-tournament friendlies.
Albania topped their group in some style: after losing their opening game against Poland, they went unbeaten through the next seven.
With an odd of 1.34 to the defending champions Italy by the bookies, no doubt they are the favoirites for this tournament. It won’t be a surprise if they run over tonight’s opponent.
Group B’s opener for this Euros definitely looks the most fascinating with three-time winners of the European Championship Spain set to face Croatia who have never made it past the quarter-finals of this competition in Berlin on Saturday.
Although France, England, Portugal and Germany are tipped to win this year’s edition of the Euro with Spain somewhat going under the radar, but this talented squad certainly has the capabilities required to triumph this summer. They made the semi-finals of Euro 2020, losing to the eventual winners Italy on penalties.
Croatia on the other hand have been impressive in recent times. Their World Cup record is incredibly impressive, finishing as the runners-up in 2018, before claiming third at the 2022 competition in Qatar.
However, the national side have been knocked out in the round of 16 in their last two European Championship appearances, while their best-ever performance in the competition came in 1996 and 2008, when they reached the quarter-finals.
Spain have won six of their previous 10 matches against Croatia.
Croatia’s last win over Spain came in the UEFA Nations League back in November 2018.
Croatia have only lost two of their last 10 matches in all competitions, while they have scored nine times in their last three games.
An odd of 1.96 for Spain to win as against Crotia’s 4.40 shows the bookies favour Spain for a win. However, in a game like this, the form of both teams need to be put into consideration.
