Spain has won the Euros in 2024 after beating England 2-1 in Berlin! At the start of the tournament, La Roja weren’t anyone’s favourites. But that didn’t stop Spain from playing the most exquisite brand of football throughout the tournament and taking the trophy home in the end! The Spanish National Team justified the saying, “May the best team win!” But their dominant journey in this tournament is much more special than one would think. If anything, Spain’s victory is unique, in the sense of coincidences, history, and what they have given to the footballing world through this European Championship.
La Roja beats White every time!
In what was a massive coincidence, 6 out of the 7 opponents Spain played on their road to victory in Berlin, wore all-white jerseys! And Spain ended up defeating all of them in a rampant fashion wearing their famous red home jersey! First up was Croatia, then Italy who don’t usually wear white! In the round of 16 was Georgia, then Germany, white again! then France decided to wear white instead of blue in the Semis followed by England in the final, again- yes you guessed it, WHITE! The only non-white team Spain faced was Albania, and guess what, that was the only time in the tournament Spain did not wear Red!
Lamine “Starboy” Yamal
Most notably, Spain gave the footballing world the story of the tournament, in 16, now 17-year-old Lamine Yamal. The Barcelona wonderkid left everyone who watched him at the Euros spellbound. We have never seen anything like this from a 16-year-old since Pele and Messi. And even they weren’t tearing through France and Germany at 16. Rodri might have won the Player of The Tournament in the 2024 Euros, but everyone will always remember this as a tournament where Lamine Yamal set the stage on fire. When was the last time a 17-year-old won an International tournament while being one of the very best players on the team? Probably Pele in ’58 and even he was closing in on 18, while Yamal turned 17 a day before the Final! There won’t be anything like the Young POTT of the 2024 Euros for a long long time in the future and that’s what makes him so special.
Their Spaintastic Road To Berlin and Beyond
For a moment, just sit back and try to realise how crazy Spain’s run in this tournament was. They got through the likes of Croatia, Italy, Germany and France just to make the trip to Berlin, all the while being the far better side on the pitch and getting through their opponents like a knife through butter. Never once did it feel like they were on the verge of losing a game. The only time they were forced into extra time was against Germany, who were undoubtedly the 2nd best team in the tournament. Even in the Final, they managed to make a joke out of England’s equaliser, retaking the lead just 13 minutes later. In doing so, Spain became only the second team after Italy in 2020, to win 7/7 matches in the process of winning the Euros. If you narrow it down further, Spain is the only team in Euros history to have a perfect record and win 7/7 in Extra-Time or before on the road to lifting the European Championship Cup. France had a perfect record 4 decades ago in the 1984 Euros, but back then only 8 teams played the Euros and France won 5/5, unlike Spain’s 7/7. Considering the kind of opposition Spain had to go past, there’s no denying that Spain’s 2024 Euros Run is by far the most dominant Euros run the world of football has witnessed.
