Soccer Football - Euro 2024 - Final - Spain v England - Berlin Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany - July 14, 2024 Spain's Alvaro Morata lifts the trophy as they celebrate winning the Euro 2024 REUTERS/Lee Smith
BERLIN (Reuters) - Spain's path to European Championship success was forged the hard way thanks to a remarkable collective effort, with several squad players coming off the bench at key moments to make decisive contributions when the team needed them the most.
Substitute Mikel Oyarzabal became the 10th Spain player to score at Euro 2024 when he set up and finished in the 86th minute to secure a 2-1 win over England and a record fourth title. It was their 15th goal, the most by any team at a Euros.
It was a similar script to the 2-1 quarter-final victory over Germany when substitute Mikel Merino stepped up to head the winner in the last moments of extra-time to silence a raucous Stuttgart Stadion.
Spain had to dig deep but their monstrous effort in that ill-tempered game against Germany had a price, with midfielder Pedri sustaining a knee serious injury that put him out of the tournament, while bookings for defenders Dani Carvajal and Robin Le Normand left them depleted to face France in the semi-final.
However, Spain once again showed their grit and passion to overcome another obstacle, with Dani Olmo, who also came off the bench to score and provide an assist against Germany, starting versus France, replacing Pedri, and scoring the winner.
Spain's ultimate team victory came in the final when all looked to be going against them after their most reliable player, Euro 2024 MVP Rodri, could not return for the second-half after suffering a knee injury.
With the game level at 1-1 and England on a roll, left-back Marc Cucurella, whose mistake led to the counter-attack that gave England the equaliser, redeemed himself with a lung-busting 50 metres run followed by the cross for Oyarzabal to score.
Cucurella was one of the brightest lights of Spain's Euro 2024 campaign and credited his performances to his diligent work ethic during an underwhelming spell at club side Chelsea.
A team full of under the radar players with uplifting stories that ground out seven wins in seven matches playing a mostly attacking game at a tournament in which most of the big favourites left under criticism for underwhelming performances.
Spain's two opening wins enabled coach Luis de la Fuente to make 10 changes for the final group game against Albania and the stand-ins did not miss a beat as they carved out a 1-0 win.
They had the perfect leader in coach Luis de la Fuente, the man who was mocked on social media as "Luis de la Who?" after his appointment last year, being little known after toiling away at the country's academy level for over a decade.
He had the chance to work with over half of the players he took to Germany, with names like Rodri, Olmo, Merino, Oyarzabal and Fabian, who had played big roles under his calm guidance in the Under-19 and Under-21 European Championship in 2015 and 2019 respectively, now repeating that success in the senior squad.
"In life and in sport, when you give your best effort and sacrifice yourself, you get the reward from everything you gave up to get there," Rodri told Spain's TVE.
"We have made history. We have beaten four world champions (Italy, Germany, France and England) one after the other, the hardest way to win it. It speaks to the mentality of the team.
"This is something that was cultivated, many of us were Under-19, Under-21 champions together. The coach knew what he was doing. The coach knew what he was doing!"
(Reporting by Fernando Kallas; Editing by Ken Ferris)
