Spain 2-1 England: UEFA EURO 2024 final analysis

Spain's capacity to play through the pitch was ultimately pivotal to their triumph in the final of UEFA EURO 2024 – but it took them until the second half to achieve this.

UEFA's performance analysis unit have digested the data from the final and it underlines both England's success in stopping Spain from playing through the midfield during a goalless first half and the impressive response from Luis de la Fuente's side in the second period.

The screenshot above shows how the England midfielders each went man for man with a Spanish counterpart in the first half, starting with Phil Foden who is marking Rodri. As is highlighted, England have a compact shape with little space between their midfield and defensive units.

This changed in the second half as UEFA's technical observer panel identified in their post-match analysis of Sunday's final.

A look at the direction of Spain's forward line-breaking passes shows how they found it difficult to progress through central areas in the first period; instead we see a large concentration of balls up the left side. Rodri, for example, made only one forward line-breaking pass in his 45 minutes on the pitch.

The fact that Nico Williams, with seven, was the recipient of the most line-breaking passes for Spain in the first half underlines this pattern.

Indeed, looking at the chart above, if we include passes received by Marc Cucurella, 11 of the 18 successful line-breaking passes before the break were for Spain's left-sided pair. By contrast, Dani Olmo in the middle received just one.

According to the UEFA technical observer panel: "Spain had a 4-3-3 with the same set-up of players in the middle of the pitch as England, and the England players following the Spanish midfielders there. Defensively, England did a good job in first half because Spain didn't create anything."

The pressing data supports this view as in the first half, England made 31 pressures and forced Spain backwards 11 times – a high success rate. Though Spain were holding on to the ball, only five times did they manage to beat the press.

All that changed after the restart and a pivotal factor was the tweak to Spain's set-up in the middle. Where they had had a 1+2 in midfield before the break, with Rodri deeper than Fabián Ruiz and Dani Olmo, now Ruiz dropped back alongside Rodri's replacement Martín Zubimendi to form a 2+1.

England struggled to adjust accordingly, and the screenshot above shows their midfielders pushing up on the deeper duo of Zubimendi and Ruiz, but Olmo free in a pocket of space to receive from goalkeeper Unai Simón.

As such, we now see a greater spread of line-breaking pass across the pitch in the above graphic. In the second half, Spain were able to find Álvaro Morata and Olmo in the pockets as well as Dani Carvajal and Lamine Yamal on the right.

In the case of Morata, as the final chart below shows, he actually received twice as many line-breaking passes (six) in his 23 minutes on the pitch in the second half as he had in the entire first period. As for Olmo, he received five – compared to just one before half-time – as Spain were now able to find him in spaces.

England's pressing became less effective too as they tired – a result, partly, of their inability to get on the ball and hold on to it for significant spells. As Gareth Southgate himself reflected: "The key was possession of the ball and we didn't have enough control."

The pressing data highlights the shift too: on the 30 occasions they were pressed by England in the second half, Spain progressed forward on 11 of them. This shift was reflected by Spain's threat. After three chances before the break, they created 11 in the second period and five of their six shots on goal, including – crucially – the two goals that brought their fourth European title.