Entering the tournaments as favourites, many expected Spain to add the Women’s Euro crown to their world and Nations League titles, but an agonising loss to England in a penalty shootout on Sunday has left them searching for answers after dominating the game.
Coming into the final on the back of five straight victories, Spain seemed to be able to find the solution to every problem they were confronted with, but they could not find a way to break the English resolve as the game finished 1-1 after extra time, eventually losing 3-1 on penalties.
Such was Spain’s dominance in most of their matches at the Euros that it usually seemed like only a matter of time before they would find a way through, and they scored after 25 minutes against England.
Once Alessia Russo equalised, however, the Spaniards stuttered until extra time where they again took over, without ever finding the goal they needed to kill the game off.
“England were a team who contested a lot of second balls and we weren’t winning them, which caused us to struggle a bit,” Spain coach Montse Tome said.
“During extra time we managed to get the ball again and create attacking chances, but it wasn’t enough to avoid penalties.”
Warning signs could be seen in Spain’s group games, where they conceded sloppy goals to Belgium and Italy, and through they scored 14 times in their three matches, their attack looked ponderous for long spells as they controlled possession without really threatening.
They beat hosts Switzerland in the last eight without ever really getting going, and it took a 113th-minute goal from Aitana Bonmati to get them past Germany in the semi-final in a victory that was comfortable without being convincing.
The five teams Spain met in the run-up set the template for England in the final as they defended the space around their penalty area fiercely, living on the margins and hitting the Spaniards on the break when they could.
Faced with that aggressive English defence, Spain changed the point of attack repeatedly but all too often they found themselves headed down blind alleys, falling into the trap of passing the ball among themselves for the sake of it.
“We had some very good moments but just couldn’t finish the chances,” Spain captain Irene Paredes said. “England were happy just to reach penalties but, in the shootout, we didn’t perform well. To be a champion you need some luck, and I believe they had it.”
However, England had more than luck.
In a rematch of the 2023 World Cup final, which they lost 1-0, England had a never-say-die attitude the Spaniards would do well to emulate if they want to be champions of Europe.
