- England beat Netherlands 2-1 in added time to reach the final of Euro 2024
- They face a Spain side going for a record fourth European Championship title
- LISTEN to It’s All Kicking Off! EUROS DAILY: How England are on the cusp of immortality
So, after weeks of criticism, late goals and debates over more or less every player and their role in the team, England have reached the final of Euro 2024 after Ollie Watkins last-minute stunner sunk the Netherlands.
It was a game rife with controversy, not least the fact that the referee had previously been banned for ‘match-fixing’ and England were awarded an extremely debatable penalty, but such is the game.
Now the Three Lions have won a spot in their first ever overseas final in major tournaments, Gareth Southgate‘s side shrugging off the monumental pressure to make a second showpiece finale in three years.
But – shock – the Three Lions are not just going to be given the trophy. England’s toughest test so far now lies in wait in the form of Spain, who have comfortably been the best side in Germany in the last month and will take some beating.
Here, Mail Sport runs you through the team standing in the way of Southgate and Co on Sunday as Spain look to win a record fourth European Championship crown in Berlin.
Alvaro Morata – the captain at war with the Spanish media
For those who don’t follow football too closely, Alvaro Morata’s will be a name that actually doesn’t ring that many bells – which is strange for a striker who has been on the books at Real Madrid, Juventus and Chelsea and is captain to one of the world’s best teams.
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Morata has flitted around some of the biggest clubs in the game without ever really pulling up any trees – Chelsea fans in particular will remember his £70million arrival at Stamford Bridge with a grimace – yet his record for his country is impressive.
With 36 goals in 78 games, Morata is Spain’s third-highest goal scorer and only two players have ever scored more than him in the history of the European Championship at the tournament proper. Curiously, though, he is a hugely divisive figure back home.
Ahead of the semi-final victory over France, Morata threatened to quit the team after the tournament, and has claimed: ‘In Spain there’s no respect for anything or anyone.’
Understandably it didn’t sit too well with the media, with El Confidencial publishing a story with the headline ‘Morata, a captain who embarrasses Spain and not only because of his poor form at the Euros’. The article had accused Morata of being a ‘crybaby’, and for showing ‘immature and reprehensible behaviour’ due to his comments falling ahead of the Euro 2024 showdown with France.
In response, Morata’s wife Alice Campello blasted the coverage of her partner, describing it as ‘not normal’, criticised the decision to try and ‘sink’ the skipper on the eve of a major semi-final and called for greater ‘respect’ for Morata.
You would imagine that there will be some deeply pointed and oh so thinly-veiled comments from the skipper should he crush English hearts and guide La Roja to the European crown come Sunday night.
Lamine Yamal – the 16-year-old doing his homework between games
At 16 years old, Lamine Yamal has absolutely no right to be arguably the star of a tournament featuring names like Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, and Harry Kane.
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All right, he will be turning 17 on the day of the final, but it’s genuinely unbelievable for the wonderkid to be dealing with the pressure and expectation so well, and turning out stellar performances again and again for his country.
His strike against France will live long in the memory. A gorgeous dipping, swerving effort that clattered in off the post from 30 yards in exactly the same way most kids his age dream of doing – the only difference is that he’s actually doing it.
What is perhaps more impressive, is that with the world at the tip of his boots he has remained humble and grounded, with every goal marked by a tribute to his hometown of Rocafonda, and his boots bear the flags of his parents’ native Morocco and Equatorial Guinea, an evident pride in his heritage.
But, incredibly, being the star of the show at the European Championship is not a good enough excuse to get out of your schoolwork. That’s right, Yamal the Barcelona wonderkid has been doing his homework in between matches in Germany.
He admitted at the start of the tournament that he intends to focus on his studies during downtime while at the Euros. ‘I brought my homework here because I’m in the 4th year,’ he said. ‘I have online classes too and those are going fine. I hope the teacher doesn’t get mad at me.’
You’d think it’s safe to say if he can repeat his semi-final heroics in the final then he’s probably off the hook – though defeat could land the teenager in detention!
Marc Cucurella – the Chelsea defender turned Public Enemy No 1 in Germany
Marc Cucurella has had a strange season; slammed for his showings as part of a very poor Chelsea defence at the start of 2023-24, he then underwent a huge up-turn in form that has seen him guide Spain to the Euros final as a crucial part of Luis De La Fuente’s side.
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The full back has had his criticisms, with Gary Neville awkwardly suggesting he would be the reason Spain fail to make the final, but it’s safe to say he has thrived on the international stage, his showing against Ousmane Dembele on Tuesday night underlining this, pocketing the tricky French winger.
However, anyone watching that game will have noticed that every time the ball entered the same post code as the Spain star, he was roundly booed by thousands of fans at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
This wasn’t French supporters hoping to put off the Chelsea man – at least not entirely – but the wounded, heartbroken jeers of a nation that felt themselves robbed of a place in that very game.
Spain beat hosts Germany 2-1 in dramatic fashion the previous weekend, though that win was not without its controversy, with Julian Nagelsmann’s side absolutely convinced that they should have earned a penalty after the ball appeared to clatter into Cucurella’s arm.
Germany star Jamal Musiala’s goal-bound effort was blocked by Cucurella’s hand inside the penalty area with the score level at 1-1 in extra time. Players and fans alike were adamant that it should have been a penalty, but referee Anthony Taylor insisted Cucurella’s arm was not in an unnatural position and waved away their appeals. His decision was backed up the VAR officials, but still the host nation appeared to be seething.
Victory on Sunday, however, would surely be the ultimate burn on those fans who are yet to let go.
Rodri – the Man City star who doesn’t know how to lose
Spain’s legendary midfield trio of Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and Sergio Busquets is unbeatable. It is, and probably always will be, the greatest of all time, so there were some extremely huge boots to step into for their successors.
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It’s a pretty handy then that Rodri seemingly doesn’t actually know how to lose games. He only lost one game in 90 minutes last season for Manchester City, and hasn’t suffered defeat with Spain since a shock 2-0 win for Scotland back in March 2023.
That’s not luck, either. City notably struggled without their metronomic midfield maestro last term, losing both games of his red card suspension, and look a completely different outfit with Rodri involved.
It’s much the same for Spain, too, judging by their recent form. In somewhat anachronistic fashion, the quiet, reserved defensive midfielder with his shirt tucked in, a normal haircut and no sleeve tattoos, quietly goes about his business being the best in the world at what he does.
He is in many ways the ultimate Pep Guardiola player, taking the ball and passing the ball over and over and over and over and over and over again throughout the game, never putting a foot wrong, but there’s more to Rodri than 10-yard passes – much more.
It’s no surprise he is the man that scored the goal to win Man City the Champions League in 2023 – he just steps up time and again with commensurate composure and class, whether it be late strikes or perfectly executed tackles.
He is the key to Spain, there’s no denying. Yamal can run you ragged, Nico Williams can turn you inside out with his feet, but Rodri is the beating heart of La Roja; stop him and you win the game, it’s as simple as that. The only problem is nobody has quite worked out how to do that yet.
Aymeric Laporte – the Frenchman who beat his home nation to reach the final
Born in Agen, France – some 170km away from the Spanish border – Aymeric Laporte stunned both French and Spanish media when it came to then manager Luis Enrique’s Euro 2020 squad announcement.
Somehow as yet uncapped by summer 2021 by France, Laporte had grown tired of waiting for the call up from Didier Deschamps. The player claimed he had texted the France boss about his conundrum and was given the cold shoulder.
For most players, not getting the call up is the end of the road, but not for Laporte. The centre back can in fact claim Basque ancestry through his great-grandparents and began his career with the region’s greatest club, Athletic Bilbao, where he would spend eight years.
With France still yet to come calling, Laporte was granted his citizenship in May 2021 by the Spanish government, while FIFA approved his national switch, having represented France at Under 17-21 level.
His ancestry and previous eight-year residency in the country was enough to finally secure a world-leading defender the chance to have a crack at international football.
‘I don’t have anything personal against him, but if someone has a problem it’s him and not me,’ he said of his snub by Deschamps. ‘I could be a world champion but these are the decisions of the coach, who is not calling me for, I think, personal reasons, and I have to respect him.’
Needless to say Deschamps had a different version of events. ‘What makes me uncomfortable is what he might say, and that is a lie,’ Deschamps said.
‘The only message I received from him was in October about a precise situation regarding an injury he had sustained in September.
‘He has that freedom. He hasn’t played for us? It could have happened, ten seconds would have been enough.
‘He has always been in the list of players called up, but there has been competition for places.
‘Leaving him out is not a mistake, it is just my decision. I wish him the best and he’s free to make that choice.’
His accusation of essentially being ignored by one of French football’s totemic figures caused fireworks, with French outlet L’Equipe accusing the perceived turncoat of ‘succumbing to the Iberian sirens’. Safe to say they didn’t take the news too well.
After 51 youth appearances for France, the chance at vindication and the opportunity to show Deschamps just what a mistake he made by letting the five-time Premier League winning centre back slip was quickly snaffled up in the last four, and now it is Laporte stood on the verge of the final at the expense of the nation he was born in.
Nico Williams – the dazzling forward whose family crossed a desert
‘As an older brother, it makes me really proud to see how he has grown, to see how he is improving as a footballer. He has no ceiling,’ Nico Williams’ older brother and Athletic Bilbao team-mate Inaki told BBC Sport. ‘I’m here to help him, to teach him and give him everything he needs.’
If Inaki taught younger brother Nico even a tenth of what he knows, then he deserves national recognition for his work, because right now the 22-year-old is in scorching form and doesn’t look like stopping any time soon.
While Inaki declared for Ghana – where their parents were born – Nico has become part of one of the most devastating attacking line-ups in Europe alongside Yamal on the other flank, and has been crucial to Spain’s progress in Germany.
Frighteningly quick, fiendishly tricky and ferociously hungry, Williams has thrilled fans and pundits alike at the tournament, but the story of his family’s courage and sacrifice to give their children a better life is undeniably more impressive still.
The Williams bothers’ mother Maria and their father Felix left Ghana when she fell pregnant with Inaki in search of a better life, and began a journey that saw them cross the Sahara desert barefoot – an ordeal that gave Felix problems with the soles of his feet for the rest of his life due to the scorching sand.
After reaching the Spanish community of Melilla, nestled on the northern tip of Morocco after sneaking past a border fence, Maria and Felix were detained and advised by a lawyer to lie and claim they were fleeing war-torn Liberia, rather than leaving Ghana.
On the lawyer’s advice they sought political asylum before being brought to Bilbao by a catholic priest, Inaki Mardones, who would later become Inaki’s namesake and godfather.
Their sacrifice has not been lost on their two sons, who have become legends in Bilbao after guiding the team to a first title in 40 years this season with the Copa Del Rey crown.
‘Thanks to God we are all here together now, living a really good life. My parents are getting to watch their sons prosper, which is why they came here. Everything we do is for our parents,’ said Nico.
‘They risked their lives so that we, my brother and I, have a better future. And they achieved that. I will forever appreciate what my father and my mother did for us – they are fighters, they instilled in us respect, hard work, every day, that nobody gifts you anything.
‘The truth is I am so proud to be able to have them as parents, and I try to do everything possible so that they feel proud to have me as a son.’
Even as an England fan, a little bit of you can’t help but want Nico Williams to win the Euros on Sunday, the crowning touch on an already heroic tale.