Spain 2-1 England: How La Roja's midfield superiority made the difference
Monday, July 15, 2024
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UEFA's technical observers analyse how Spain's midfield took control in their 2-1 EURO 2024 final win over England.
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Spain's midfield superiority in the second half proved the difference as Luis de la Fuente's men captured their fourth European Championship title at the expense of England in Berlin.
That was the verdict of UEFA's technical observer panel as they reflected on England's efforts to contain Spain centrally in the goalless first period of Sunday's EURO 2024 final – and the response of the eventual champions after the interval.
The wing play of Spain was another major factor – underlined by the opening goal made by Lamine Yamal and converted by Nico Williams, of which more below – but, as this analysis will show, it was Spain's improved thrust from midfield that was most telling.
As the observers reflected, England took a player-to-player approach to marking Spain's midfielders in the first half. The video below offers an example, showing Phil Foden keeping tight to Rodri, while Declan Rice tracks Dani Olmo and Kobbie Mainoo watches Fabián Ruiz in a first clip which ends with an England regain.
As a result of this, Spain struggled to progress the ball centrally in the first period with Rodri producing just three line-breaking passes. Spain looked more to the left side of Marc Cucurella and Williams with 13 of their 18 line-breaking passes coming from lanes one and two on that side.
"We actually defended well in the first half in particular and limited their possibilities," said England manager Gareth Southgate and to underline the point, Spain had five shots but an xG of only 0.29.
The second period proved a different story, despite Spain's half-time loss of Rodri, the Player of the Tournament, owing to injury. Martín Zubimendi took his place as their midfield pivot and had Ruiz dropping to join him deeper. Together, the pair received the ball in positions which created spaces that allowed Spain to find more penetrating passes, with England's midfielders unable to press both at the same time without leaving space in the pockets.
The second clip shows the superbly precise move for the opening goal on 47 minutes and it illustrates this point as we see Spain circulate the ball over to their left and then back to the right, seeking to find spaces via the switch in play.
It is Ruiz who plays the line-breaking pass to Dani Carvajal on the wing and, on a general note, the Spain right-back got into more advanced positions in the second half which had the effect of enabling Yamal to move inside, seeking space between the lines.
In this sequence, Jude Bellingham is drawn towards Ruiz, which opens up more room inside for Yamal to exploit. As for left-back Luke Shaw, he is caught between getting tight to Carvajal or Yamal. And so, after the fabulous outside-of-the-foot pass by Carvajal, Yamal has room to carry the ball on a diagonal run inside before feeding Williams. Credit is also due to Álvaro Morata and Olmo for the runs which take out two defenders, leaving Williams free in space on the left from where he delivers an excellent first-time finish across Jordan Pickford.
Speaking about the half-time change, Spain coach De la Fuente said: "Zubimendi is a player with very similar qualities to Rodrigo and we wanted to keep that structure. It's true that it enabled us to bring the ball out more, with more individual running with the ball to open things up in situations when driving forward.
"We wanted to keep the same structure. The only difference was the players in the second half showed more composure than our opponents. We created a lot of chances on the counterattack when we could have killed off the game."
As a final point, the combination of Yamal and Williams for the opening goal featured the fourth assist by the former – the Young Player of the Tournament – while, for 22-year-old Williams, it made him the youngest scorer in a EURO final since 1968.
"Spain with their creative wingers made a lot of problems for England," added the UEFA technical observer panel, concluding: "They were the best team in the tournament, introducing exciting young wingers which has elevated them above all the other teams."
Technical observers at EURO 2024
