Will Football Truly Come Back Home as England Try ‘Perfect’ Spain for Size?

England will tomorrow in the final of the EURO 2024 square up against a Spanish side that had a perfect start from the group stage of the tournament. The slogan of the English fans has been ‘Football is coming back home’, but against an attacking La Roja, the Three Lions have to be at their best if they truly hope to bring football back to England   

Euro 2024 draws to a close with a battle of the Berlin behemoths this evening, as finalists Spain and England emerge to a raucous Olympiastadion atmosphere for the right to be crowned kings of the continent.

While La Roja – tipped by many as the favourites to prevent football from coming home once again – are already familiar with feel of the Henri Delaunay Trophy, the 1966 World Cup winners are yet to hoist the iconic cup aloft.

Luis de la Fuente’s red-clad superstars and Gareth Southgate’s crop of hopefuls both had to do it the hard way in their semi-final ties, as Spain denied France a shot at Euros supremacy, while the Three Lions roared to a mesmerising victory over the Netherlands to reach back-to-back finals.

By the time Francois Letexier’s final whistle blows tomorrow night, the Spain versus England major tournament final chapter would have come full circle; after all, the two nations crossed paths in two showpiece matches this time last year, just not in the senior men’s game.

Several weeks after Lee Carsley’s England Under-21s sunk their Spanish counterparts to earn their European Championship stars, Spain’s women’s team conquered the globe with an identical 1-0 success in the World Cup final, leaving Sunday’s mouthwatering meeting as delicately poised as they come.

As the likes of hosts Germany, the Kylian Mbappe-led France and – to an extent – England lapped up most of the pre-tournament fanfare, De la Fuente’s Spain may have flown slightly under the radar before commencing their Euros duties, especially in the wake of their recent major tournament failures.

However, 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 – who will soon be deposed – and the unfancied Albanians, ending the first phase as the only nation with a 100% record both points-wise and defensive-wise.

Even when tournament debutants Georgia took a shock lead in their last-16 battle, Spain had still not conceded to an opposition player – Robin Le Normand’s own-goal blushes were spared by a terrific quartet of Roja strikes – and De la Fuente’s men subsequently survived their biggest scare yet against ousted hosts Germany in the quarter-finals.

After the heroics of Mikel Merino in Stuttgart, the 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 – and an outrageous one to boot – before Dani Olmo’s exquisite touch and deflected effort left Les Bleus feeling blue.

Excluding their triumphant Nations League campaign last year, Spain’s senior men’s team punched their ticket to their sixth major tournament final by fighting back against the French, and only one of their previous five – the Euro 1984 final versus Les Bleus – has seen La Roja come out second best.

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.

Of course, a fourth Euros success would also see Spain become the most successful team in the history of the competition – leaving Germany and their trident of successes in their wake – and it is just the 16 wins from their last 18 matches for the three-time champions, who have emerged triumphant in their last eight on the bounce.

Had a boy from Torquay not burst onto the Premier League scene with Aston Villa and wrote his name into the annals of English football, Spain may very well have been gearing up for a repeat of their fiery 2010 World Cup final versus the Netherlands. Instead, De la Fuente’s men will face a wall of white fresh from rejoicing in Dortmund delirium.

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.

Following the Real Madrid man’s heroics, the Three Lions’ quarter-final bacon against Switzerland was saved by another starboy in Bukayo Saka, who also exorcised his own major tournament penalty demons – akin to Stuart Pearce versus none other than Spain in 1996 – during an unexpectedly perfect shootout from the Euro 2020 silver medallists.

Southgate and co were still under no illusions that enormous improvements were required if they were to nullify the Netherlands, whose own protege – Xavi Simons – capitalised on a rare lapse in concentration from Declan Rice, but what followed was arguably the best performance England have produced in the whole of 2024.

While Bart Verbruggen could hardly have done more to deny Harry Kane from the spot after the England captain was controversial awarded a penalty, the Golden Boot chaser’s effort was placed perfectly into the bottom corner, but as Koeman tweaked his team tactically, England’s wave of chance after chance reverted to fruitless pass after fruitless pass.

That was until the clock struck 90, however, when Chelsea talent Cole Palmer delivered a slick pass into the feet of fellow substitute Ollie Watkins, who needed no second invitation to unleash a venomous strike across goal from a tight angle, which rippled the far side of the net and triggered unbridled England elation.

A multitude of collective and individual records were either matched or broken by Southgate’s luminaries at the Signal Iduna Park, as 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.

Never before have the England senior men’s team competed in a major tournament final on foreign soil, but Southgate – whose uncertain future remains a slightly unwelcome distraction – continues to find new ways to mastermind unforgettable Three Lions victories, even when some of the pessimistic crowd feel that his time ought to have been up a while ago.

The 53-year-old has already experienced the joys of sinking the Spanish on the field and in the dugout, having been a member of the Euro 1996 quarter-final penalty victors while also overseeing a 3-2 Nations League win in October 2018, their most recent head-to-head. Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford were among the goals that day, and as both watch Sunday’s titanic tussle from their sofas, the time is nigh for the new kids on the England block to emulate the women’s and Under-21 sides and complete the holy Euros trinity.