Berlin (Germany): Substitute Mikel Oyarzabal slid in with an 87th-minute winner that took the game away from the England as Spain clinched a comprehensive 2-1 victory in the end at Euro Cup 2024 at Olympiastadion in the capital city of Germany on Sunday.
Spain became the first team to bag four European Championship title while England's painful decades-long wait for major trophy goes on. Spain also won the title in 1964, 2008 and 2012. This was the second European Championship final in a row that Gareth Southgate's side have lost, after falling to Italy on penalties in 2021, with 1966 their only major tournament final before that.
Oyarzabal slid in to poke home Marc Cucurella's cross, just when the game at Berlin's Olympiastadion seemed destined for extra time after the latest show of resilience by England at the tournament.
It won't be unfair to say that it was the night for the substitutes. Before the Spain's substitute Oyarzabal came out with winner, it was England's Cole Palmer, who stepped into the field as substitute, scored a equaliser for England in the 73rd minute to cancel out the deficit.
Nico Williams had registered the opener in the 47th, excellently assisted by the 16-year-old prodigy Lamine Yamal, who recently became the youngest player to score a goal in Euro Cup history with a goal in the semi-final against Kylian Mbappe's France.
England's men's team has now lost back-to-back Euro finals and is still without a major title since winning the 1966 World Cup. It is another agonizing loss for one of the world's most underperforming national teams, this one coming in front of Prince William and Spain's King Felipe at the venue built for the 1936 Olympics.
After the final whistle, Williams put his hands to his face before he was embraced by his teammates. Dani Carvajal slumped to the field and was piled on by jubilant teammates. Yamal, Marc Cucurella and Dani Olmo were among the first to jump over the advertising hoardings to reach the Spanish fans in the stadium's east end. (With AP inputs)
