Spain became European football champion for the fourth time

The Spanish national football team won Euro 2024, defeating the English in the final, Liter.kz reports with reference to the Russian Service BBC.

Spain emerged as the top side of the “group of death”, beating Italy, Croatia and Albania. England finished first in a weak group with Denmark, Slovenia and Serbia. On their way to the final, Spain beat Germany in the quarter-finals in knockout games, then France in the semi-finals. England won a narrow extra-time victory against Slovakia, then took the quarter-final against Switzerland to penalties, and only got past the Netherlands in the semi-finals thanks to a penalty and a brilliant last-minute individual goal from Ollie Watkins.

The final was the first time the English team had met a serious opponent in this tournament. In the first half, the Spaniards had almost 70% of the ball, but were unable to create a single dangerous moment near the English team’s goal. Everything changed a couple of minutes into the second half. Another high-speed attack by the Spaniards brought Lamin Yamal into the penalty area, from which line he gave a brilliant pass to the left to Niko, who easily beat the English goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. Forward Harry Kane was soon sent to the bench. Cole Palmer came on in his place – and immediately scored. After a quick counterattack, the ball from the penalty area went back to Palmer, and he accurately shot from 20 meters into the far left corner. Mikel Oyarzabal, who had recently entered the field, finished off the sharp attack by the Spaniards with an accurate shot on goal.

The English almost equalised from a corner in the final minutes, but the ball was cleared off the goal line twice by Spanish outfield players.

The match was watched by the Spanish King Felipe and the British crown prince William, accompanied by the democratically elected prime ministers of Spain and the UK, Pedro Sanchez and Keir Starmer.