Spain v England: Euro 2024 final – live | Euro 2024

26 min “Hey Rob,” writes Niall Mullen, “what time does the match start?”

Not great for the neutral is it.

25 min Shaw, who has started really well, dinks the ball neatly over the sliding Carvajal on the edge of the area. Rodri comes across and the move peters out.

Kane is then booked for a lunge at Fabian Ruiz. He got the ball but then followed through into his boot.

23 min Foden loses the ball in a dangerous area to Olmo, who plays in Lamine Yamal. He moves into the area and screws a shot from a tight angle that is deflected behind by Guehi. Good defening.

England break from the resulting corner and Carvajal is fortunate not to get booked for a cynical foul on Saka. Carvajal then makes a crying motion towards one of the England players, possibly Kane who was trying to get him booked.

20 min Lamine Yamal has been quiet until now, with more of Spain’s play going down the left through Nico Williams, Fabian Ruiz and Cucurella.

As I type, Cucurella is bundled over by Saka, which elicits the biggest cheer of the game.

18 min Fabian Ruiz is taken up some dangerous positions in the inside-left channel, between Mainoo and Saka. England need to watch that.

17 min Shaw springs a great pass out to Saka on the right. He runs Cucurella, then cuts back inside and lays the ball off towards the onrushing Rice. His first-time shot from 22 yards is well blocked by Rodri.

England have woken up.

16 min Foden’s corner is poor and doesn’t beat the first man.

“Spain’s probing passing,” begins Charles Antaki, “has the look of the white-coated medic palpating the patient to find exactly where it hurts.”

15 min England’s best attack to date. Saka plays in the overlapping Walker, who whacks a low cross that is blocked at the near post by Le Normand. Walker looked fine there.

15 min England are struggling here. They’re not being battered – Pickford hasn’t made a save – but they can’t keep the ball and it’ll be a long night if that’s the case.

14 min “This is a matchup between reason and unreason,” writes Kári Tulinius. “Spain are a side where everyone plays in their position, and has a settled, logical way of playing, that is also aesthetically pleasing and efficient. England are all vibes and whatever, last ditch everything and not a whit given to beauty or joy. By all rights Spain should win, but by all rights England should’ve gone out in the round of 16, and here they are.”

13 min The corner is lofted deep and headed back across goal towrds Le Normand. He hooks a volley over his shoulder and well wide.

12 min Fabian Ruiz plays a brilliant pass down the left to put Williams one v one with Stones. He vrooms into the area, does a few stepovers and is very well challenged by Stones. Another corner to Spain.

Walker hurt himself while trying to challenge Fabian Ruiz. He’s on his feet but he’s limping and Kieran Trippier is warming up.

11 min Bellingham is caught late by Rodri, which gives England a free-kick on the left wing near the halfway line. Shaw curls it deep, Guehi is penalised for fouling Laporte.

It’s been a scruffy start from England, certainly when they have the ball.

8 min Williams plays a neat one-two on the edge of the area and gets the wrong side of Walker, but Rice comes across to make a timely interception. Spain have started better; England aren’t haven’t enough of the ball.

7 min “Earlier today I watched the last five minutes of the much underrated Mike Bassett: England Manager, released the same year Bukayo Saka was born,” says Gary Naylor. “I hope it doesn’t end like that tonight, but I also kinda hope it does.”

You’re allowed a spoiler, Gary, especially as most of us haven’t seen it for 20-odd years and the ending wasn’t quite as memorable as The Sopranos’.

6 min Spain are settling into their passing rhythm. Cucurella is still being booed for his unpunished handball against Germany nine days ago.

5 min Nico Williams’ awkward cross is put behind for the first corner by John Stones. It’s headed away at the near post, I think by Bellingham.

4 min It looks like England have started in a 4-2-3-1 themselves, with Bellingham playing from the left and Foden behind Kane. Interesting, very interesting.

3 min We put Spain’s shape as 4-2-3-1 but when they have the ball it’s closer to 4-1-4-1, with Fabian Ruiz playing further forward.

2 min Shaw wins his first little duel with Yamal, who controlled a crossfield pass sweetly but then ran into Shaw.

2 min “Morning Rob (it’s ten till noon in Los Angeles)!” writes Michael S Weller. “I’ll be cheering for Spain today, but I’ll keep the immortal Eduardo Galeano’s (translated) words in mind: “I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead, ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’ And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle, and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”

“If England do win, I hope it’s Saka who scores the winner. Such an elegant player.”

And a sheer delightful human being.

1 min Kobbie Mainoo has the first kick of the Euro 2024 final. England are kicking from left to right as we watch.

Whose destiny is it anyway? We’re about to find out. Whoever you support, whether you’re English, Spanish or Simon McMahon, good luck.

“The Euros is such a great tournament,” begins Justin Kavanagh, “in that it gives the plucky little footballing underdogs like Denmark, Greece, and England a shot at a prize to take home with them.”

“Due to medical reasons too boring to describe, I’ve been unable to watch TV for the last three months,” says Martin O’Donovan-Wright. “I’ve waited a lifetime of 55 years to watch England win a trophy, and that’s how I know they’re going to win tonight, because they’ll finally get over the line when I can’t watch. Every cloud has a silver lining!”

So you were the curse? And to think we all blamed ITV.

A final wouldn’t be a final without a Mac Millings XI. It’s with the utmost sadness that I can confirm he’s sent one in.

“Since this may be Gareth’s Southgate’s last time leading England, perhaps you will allow me to present my all-time Goodbye Gareth XI,” says Mac. “All players appeared for the national team under Southgate except one. Can you spot the odd man out?

1. It’s Joe Hart to say goodbye

2. Ben Farewell

3. UnPhil we meet again Jones

4. Aaron Cressmell you later

5. ‘Arry-vederci Maguire

6. Cheerio Ferdinand

7. Adieu-le Alli

8. Jadon Sancho revoir

9. Bye-bye-o Saka

10. Tara-heem Sterling

11. À bientôt-ny Gordon

A reminder of the teams

Spain (4-2-3-1) Simon; Carvajal, Le Normand, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Fabian Ruiz; Lamine Yamal, Olmo, Williams; Morata.
Substitutes: Raya, Nacho, Vivian, Merino, Joselu, Torres, Grimaldo, Remiro, Baena, Zubimendi, Oyarzabal, Jesus Navas, Lopez.

England (3-4-2-1) Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi; Saka, Mainoo, Rice, Shaw; Foden, Bellingham, Kane.
Substitutes: Alexander-Arnold, Trippier, Ramsdale, Konsa, Dunk, Gallagher, Toney, Gordon, Watkins, Bowen, Eze, Gomez, Henderson, Palmer, Wharton.

Referee Francois Letexier (France)

The players are about to emerge from the tunnel. Both teams look pretty relaxed, surprisingly so. This is not just another game.

Giorgio Chiellini, winner with Italy in 2021, brings the trophy onto the field, then the players make their way onto the pitch.

“I’m writing now because I won’t be following your MBM,” cheers Jeremy Boyce. “ I live in France where they ARE actually showing the match. Apparently English smugness is a thing, I was smug the other evening predicting to my local barman then watching the outcome of the France semi-final. Smugger still next evening obviously. It’s been hard living as an ex-pat with all their nonchalant successes.

“Is it our turn? Will any of the commentators fall for the oldest trick in the book, criticising the Spanish for not singing the national anthem with GUSTO!? There are no words to the Spanish national music. Fittingly so, their footie is often beyond description. Thankfully I’m self-employed so I can phone myself for tomorrow’s sickie. My main bet is, they’re all knackered and fancy a couple of weeks off, all done and dusted in 90 mins, one way or t’other…”

“Here we are,” sighs Guy Hornsby. “This is hard to believe, that we’re back in a final again so soon. It’s a testament to this team and this manager and their ability to find a way to get through games when it feels like we have a mountain to climb. I hope Gareth Southgate gets the credit he deserves. Because for all the vitriol, no one else has done what he has, or likely will again in such a short period. My head says a Spain win, with all the talent they have, but we’ll love proving everyone wrong. So we can absolutely do it. And that’s why we watch this crazy game, eh?”

The song that’s sweeping the nation

“Friday 14 June seems like an awfully long time ago,” writes Simon McMahon. “Good luck Scotland England.”

At every major tournament the media talks about the uniquely stressful experience of watching England, as if supporters of all the other countries have a cigar and a resting heart rate. But there has been a unique, bizarrely recurring theme to England’s departures from major tournaments have often been carbon copies in the last 30-odd years.

1. Score early, usually in the first five minutes

2. Beat our chests for the next 10 minutes

3. Slowly retreat.

4. Concede an equaliser

5. Concede another or lose on penalties

It happened in 1992, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2016, 2018 and 2021. They also lost leads against Argentina in 1998 and Portugal and Romania (the latter effectively a knockout game) in 2000.

This year, England have put their fans through a whole new wringer. They’ve come from behind to win all three knockout games, the first time that has happened in the European Championship. In fact I could only find two examples in men’s or women’s football of teams doing the same at a major tournament.

Appropriately enough for such acts of cockroachery, both begin with C: Croatia at the 2018 World Cup, when England were their third and final victims, and China at the AFC Women’s Asia Cup in 2022.

While I’m not suggesting England should throw one in straight from kick off, comebacks and late winners have a happy habit of perpetuating themselves. But this is a step up in class for England. Spain have been the stars of the tournament, a joyous team whose style has more in common the Ramba-Zamba Fußball of 1972 than the tiki-taka of the early 2010s.

If both teams play to their tournament level, Spain will win. Finals don’t really work like that though eh.

“I asked ChatGPT to tell me what would happen as a haiku,” writes Edan Tal, “and it said:

Kane’s dodgy penalty,

Wembley roars, Spain’s dream fades fast—

England lifts the prize.

“AI knows best.”

It’ll kill us all you know.

The Prince of Wales and the prime minster are among those who will be at tonight’s game. Here’s what they had to say.

This will come as a shock to some, but journalists are human beings too.

“Drinking?” thunders Joe Pearson. “Of course I am, and I live in Indiana, and it’s just past 2 PM. We just had a rollicking thunderstorm roll through, so I hope that’s an omen of a great rough and tumble football match. Oh, and tell me you think beets are disgusting. Will left before I could cajole him about that.”

Were it not for the astonishing Lamine Yamal, the greatest 16-year-old we’ve ever seen, there might be more fuss about Kobbie Mainoo’s eerie maturity. At the age of 19 years 86 days, he becomes the youngest England player to appear in a major final.

Here’s Jonathan Liew on what makes Mainoo so good.

And this, written by Tim de Lisle a year ago, wins the award for prescience.

“Ugh, it is now 2.30am and I am wilting in China,” mails Alexandra Fullerton. “Here with a mixed table of English and Chinese fans supporting England and Spain. Excellent. Thanks as always for the MBM. As a Costa Rican I will be supporting England for the first time ever!”

One really intriguing battle tonight is between the Real Madrid pair of Dani Carvajal and Jude Bellingham. Bellingham has been slightly wired throughout the tournament, and Carvajal has never been a poster boy for the Corinthian spirit.

Spain could make history tonight. They’ve won the European Championship three times, a record they share with Germany. Win tonight and they’ll be all alone. And Luis de la Fuente will join Jose Villalonga (1964), Luis Aragones (2008) and Vicente del Bosque (2012) in the pantheon.

“Sitting in Dublin airport flying to Milan with 31 Italian students,” laments Steven Wicks. “Not only am I missing the game , but being constantly reminded about our defeat three years ago. Just terrified to switch my phone back on when we land.”

“Two hours to go before the whistle blows and fickle fate unfurls,” writes Andy Gordon. “During the match, as the tension ratchets inevitably upwards on the screen, at what point is it acceptable to start using the Ivan Toney ‘no-look’ method, using just the commentary or MBM posts?”

I wondered why there was a row of seats behind the sofa.

“So go on, what’s your prediction?” says Max Williams. “I think (hope) we might get an early goal and then get the crucial second this time. Just feels like Spain might have peaked and England are getting better each match. Then again, ‘the opposition have played brilliantly’ isn’t the soundest logic but logic hasn’t troubled England this tournament.”

If I had to bet the farm it’d be on Spain, but I wouldn’t be particularly surprised by any outcome from 3-0 to 0-3.

Thanks Will, hello again. Have you been drinking? Ach what the hell, work will take care of itself tomorrow.

The big news is that Rob Smyth is back and fully primed for what is to come.

Enjoy!

England head out for the warm up, soundtracked by Robbie Williams’ ‘Angels’. Emotional.

Manager is not an A-list tactical genius, but he can adjust to circumstances – and that could prove crucial in the final. Barney Ronay on the England manager.

I have just been handed a goat’s cheese and beetroot salad. This is proper football scran!

Welcome to the party, Luke.

Gareth Southgate: “We realise this is a wonderful opportunity to make history, it is a privilege to being this position, we need to make it count.

“He’s [Shaw] been on the road to getting back and we think he is ready to start and gives us that balance on that side.

“We have to keep the ball well, we have goal threats, moving the ball quickly through their press is the key to the game.

“We have shown a huge amount of resilience and we have found ways to win. Any team that scores late goals is a good sign and it’s helped create belief.

“We are here to give them [the fans] the night of their lives. We know what it means to everyone.”

Sid Lowe talks to Aymeric Laporte, one of the quiet pillars of Spain’s success.

ITV News’ Daniel Hewitt speaks for many.