It was extra European Championship heartbreak for England on Sunday as Mikal Oyarzabal stepped off the bench to fireplace Spain to a 2-1 victory within the last.
The Three Lions have been eyeing one other rescue act when substitute Cole Palmer cancelled out Nico Williams’ opener, however La Roja got here on robust within the dying moments and Oyarzabal turned house Marc Cucurella’s pinpoint cross with 4 minutes left.
Whereas Spain lifted the trophy for a record-breaking fourth time, transferring away from Germany for probably the most titles gained, it’s again to the drafting board for England.
Right here, we run via one of the best Opta stats to emerge from the showpiece recreation in Berlin.
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Spain 2-1 England: No redemption for Three Lions as Yamal and Williams star
England made an undesirable piece of historical past with Sunday’s defeat as they turned the primary crew in historical past to lose back-to-back European Championship finals.
Gareth Southgate, in the meantime, turned the primary supervisor to supervise two last defeats within the competitors.
The Three Lions made a stable begin as each groups struggled to carve out possibilities within the opening interval, however they fell behind simply 69 seconds into the second half, Williams pouncing on Yamal’s go to complete throughout Jordan Pickford.
Williams’ strike is the earliest within the second half of any Euros last, and on the age of twenty-two years and two days, he turned the second-youngest participant to attain within the event’s showpiece, behind solely Pietro Anastasi in 1968 for Italy (20 years, 64 days).
Yamal, in the meantime, turned the primary Spain participant to register 4 assists at a single European Championship event.
It is usually the joint-most any participant has ever assisted at a single version of the competitors since Opta data started in 1980.
England have now conceded the primary aim in eight of their final 12 matches in all competitions and have finished so in 4 matches in a row for the primary time since 1985.
Nevertheless, the Three Lions have been dragged again into the competition by Palmer, who side-footed into the bottom-left nook after receiving Jude Bellingham’s lay-off simply 142 seconds after approaching, England’s quickest aim by a substitute on the Euros and the second-fastest by any substitute in a Euros last, behind Juan Mata in 2012 for Spain (100 seconds).
Bellingham’s help got here on his fifteenth look at a serious worldwide event. On the age of 21 years and 15 days, he’s the youngest participant within the historical past of the Euros and World Cup to make 15 appearances throughout the competitions.
The second-youngest participant to realize that feat is Bukayo Saka, who additionally made his fifteenth look on this match (22 years, 313 days).
Nevertheless, England then relinquished management of the sport and fell behind once more as Oyarzabal turned Cucurella’s low supply house. Oyarzabal has now scored 12 objectives for Spain and 9 of them have come instead, together with his final 5 in a row.
He’s the fourth substitute to attain the winner in a European Championship last, after Oliver Bierhoff for Germany in 1996, David Trezeguet for France in 2000 and Eder for Portugal in 2016.
England have been unable to reply within the dying moments as Spain made it seven wins from as many matches at Euro 2024.
They’re the primary European nation to win seven matches at a serious worldwide event (Euros/World Cup) and simply the second general, together with Brazil on the 2002 World Cup.
La Roja scored 15 objectives at Euro 2024, probably the most by any nation at a single event within the historical past of the Euros.
England’s wait to comply with up their 1966 World Cup triumph, in the meantime, drags on.
This was their forty fifth match on the Euros, 19 greater than every other nation has performed with out lifting the trophy (Belgium are second with 26).
