Nico Williams opened the game with a goal in the 47th minute following an assist from Lamine Yamal, who celebrated his 17th birthday on Saturday and became the youngest winner in Euro history. Substitute Cole Palmer was able to equalize in the 73rd minute, but another “joker” Mikel Oyarzabal decided the triumph of the team from the Iberian Peninsula less than a quarter of an hour later.
“I did what I might. I’m obviously extremely proud to have scored the decisive goal. I saw Cucurella running, so I wanted to get in front of the goal. Then the ball arrived there and ended up in the net,” described Oyarzabal.
In the end, Spanish midfielder Dani Olmo stopped Marco Guéhi’s header on the goal line. La Roja won all seven matches in the tournament, while England fell for the first time.
“I’m devastated for all of us, a piece was missing. After the equalizer, the momentum was a bit on our side, but at the end we had a great chance to equalize. But if I look at it from the point of view of the entire match, we probably weren’t good enough,” acknowledged the Englishman coach Gareth Southgate.
The chess game was replaced by drama
The first half in the German capital, where Spain opened the Euros almost a month ago with a 3-0 victory over Croatia, offered very cautious play from both teams. The Englishman Foden sent the first shot on goal following a standard situation only in the set-up, but his shot from the volley was caught by the goalkeeper Simón.
The picture of the game changed shortly following the change of sides. The youngest debutant, scorer and finalist in the history of the ME, Yamal passed to Williams and he opened the scoring with a shot at the back post. The English lost in all four play-off duels, but in contrast to the duels with Slovakia, Switzerland and the Netherlands, this time they did not complete the winning turn.
Immediately, Williams passed to Olma in the penalty area, but the latter finished wide from the turn. In the 61st minute, England captain Kane unexpectedly replaced him. Moments later, his teammate Bellingham fired just wide, on the opposite side goalkeeper Pickford pulled out Yamal’s ground effort.
In the 73rd minute, coach Southgate’s wards equalized. Sak’s pass was buried by Bellingham to Palmer, who beat Simón with a ground shot from 21 meters. The Chelsea prop received the first hit of the tournament less than three minutes following arriving on the pitch.
Ten minutes later, the ball rebounded to Yamal in the goal area, but Pickford was once more unable to reach it. Not long following, however, Cucurella made a pass in front of the goal to Oyarzabal, who stretched out and gave Spain the win with the tip of his boot.
However, the English almost equalized in the 90th minute following a corner kick. Rice’s header was first deflected by Simón, Guéhi’s header was stopped on the goal line by Olmo, and Rice headed over from the next stop.
The team from the Iberian Peninsula won the Euro for the third time in a row, 2:1, in the quarter-finals with this result they beat host Germany following extra time and France in the semi-finals.
“I mightn’t be happier. I said before the game that I was proud and now I’m even prouder. It confirms who we are. We are the best team in the world and today it was confirmed,” said Spanish coach Luis de la Fuente.
