Euro 2024 Final: Spain vs England - Preview, Odds & Predictions

Finalists Spain and England will face off in front of a wild Olympiastadion crowd on Sunday evening in a showdown for the title of continental champions at Euro 2024.

Many people think La Roja will stop football from returning to their homeland, yet the 1966 World Cup champions have never lifted the Henri Delaunay Trophy.

Spain denied France a chance at Euro domination, while England raced to a mesmerizing win over the Netherlands to reach back-to-back finals, and both teams had to work their way to the semifinals. Luis de la Fuente led the red-clad superstars, and Gareth Southgate led the crop of prospects.

Spain x England Team News

Due to suspensions, defensive rock Dani Carvajal and Robin Le Normand could not participate in the semifinal match between Spain and Germany after getting in a tense quarterfinal match.

Both Carvajal and Le Normand are available to De la Fuente again after serving suspensions for accumulation of yellow cards and being sent off in Stuttgart's extra time, respectively. They should provide the Roja XI with some much-needed fresh legs.

Le Normand should sit Nacho, the former Real Madrid captain, and replace him with Carvajal, whose play over the last year has been among his finest. Jesus Navas is the only remaining member of Spain's Euro 2012 roster.

Ayoze Perez, a former Leicester City player, is out with a quadriceps tear, and poor Pedri has been cruelly denied an opportunity to participate in Sunday's final because of a knee injury he sustained in the quarters.

Despite Merino's impressive performance in the quarterfinal, the match will be centered around the in-demand RB Leipzig playmaker Olmo. Olmo scored three goals, which tied him for the tournament lead, and he will face off against Nico Williams, another incredibly talented player. Yamal may face off against an Englishman who has yet to start in a Euro match.

Despite doubts about trusting the Manchester United man from the opening whistle, England went to Berlin without a medical room attendant thanks to Luke Shaw's complete recovery.

Shaw might start in Berlin after making a short but impactful contribution in the win over Switzerland; he came off the bench to replace deputy Kieran Trippier in the second half of the semifinal and continued to play well.

With an otherwise solid group of players, the former Southampton man—who scored a memorable opening in the Euro 2020 final at the age of two—is undoubtedly in line for promotion to the first XI, albeit extra care is needed due to his injury history.

Instead of starting three-goal captain Kane—who should not be rewarded for his exploits in the semifinal—Southgate should play with another 3-4-2-1 formation, with the inverted Bellingham and Phil Foden providing the usual assistance.

Kobbie Mainoo, who is only 19 years old, has made an instant impact in the England men's team's engine room and has more than earned his spot in the championship game, making him the youngest player to start in a significant event semifinal.

Head To Head And Previous Matches

The tale of Spain vs. England in the significant event final will have gone full circle by the time Francois Letexier blows the final whistle on Sunday night. The two countries met in two spectacular matches last year, albeit not in the senior men's game.

Just a few weeks ago, Lee Carsley's England Under-21s stunned Spain Under-21s 1-0 to claim the stars of the European Championship. The women's team from Spain has swept the world with a similar 1-0 victory in the World Cup final, setting the stage for Sunday's tantalizing encounter.

De la Fuente's Spain may have gone unnoticed before starting their Euro responsibilities, particularly after their previous big tournament disappointments. At the same time, teams like hosts Germany France, headed by Kylian Mbappe, and even England took much of the pre-tournament attention.

On the other hand, La Roja humiliated the so-called "Group of Death" by taking all nine points from a possible nine matches against the 2018 World Cup runners-up, the soon-to-be-deposed reigning European champions, and the unfancied Albanians. At the end of the first phase, they were the only nation to finish with a perfect offensive and defensive record.

A remarkable four-goal barrage from Roja spared Robin Le Normand the embarrassment of an own goal. De la Fuente's squad survived their worst scare against eliminated hosts Germany in the quarterfinals. This was even though Georgia, a tournament newcomer, had a surprising lead in their last 16 matches.

Following Mikel Merino's exploits in Stuttgart, the Allianz Arena was captivated by the 16-year-old sensation Lamine Yamal, who scored the youngest goal in European Championship history—and an astonishing one at that—before Les Bleus were left feeling down by Dani Olmo's deft touch and perfect attempt.

Although they did not compete in the Nations League last year, Spain's senior men's team advanced to their sixth major event final by overcoming France. La Roja had only lost once in their five prior encounters with Les Bleus in the 1984 Euro final.

Not only can Spain add another engraving to the Henri Delaunay Trophy—they were continental champions in 1964, 2008, and 2012—but they can also claim a piece of footballing history if they beat England on Sunday and become the first European men's team to win four consecutive major tournament finals.

If Spain were to win a fourth Euro title, they would surpass Germany as the most successful team in the tournament's history. However, the three-time winners have only won 16 of their last 18 and eight matches.

If a young man from Torquay hadn't become a Premier League legend with Aston Villa, Spain would have been preparing for a rematch of their dramatic 2010 World Cup final against the Netherlands. As a result, De la Fuente's troops will face a phalanx of white players who have just returned from delirium in Dortmund.

Just one of England's five Euro 2024 matches—their opening match against Serbia—ended in a victory for Gareth Southgate's charges, triggering the now-familiar torrent of hate directed at the much-maligned Three Lions manager Ronald Koeman's squad before their match at Signal Iduna Park.

Neither their dull draws with Slovenia and Denmark, in which England appeared tired, disorganized, and short on offensive ideas, nor their incredibly unconvincing last-16 victory over Slovakia—the Slovaks were only saved from a famous triumph by Jude Bellingham's incredible acrobatics—did much to inspire the nation.

In the aftermath of the Real Madrid player's heroics, England's quarterfinal match against Switzerland was saved by another starboy, Bukayo Saka. Like Stuart Pearce in 1996 against Spain, Saka overcame his own penalty fears in a surprisingly flawless shootout against the silver medal winners of Euro 2020.

Xavi Simons, a protégé of Declan Rice's, took advantage of a rare moment of distraction from Rice, but what followed was arguably England's finest performance of 2024, proving that Southgate and co. were still well aware that they needed to make massive improvements to defeat the Netherlands.

After England captain Harry Kane was controversially awarded a penalty, Bart Verbruggen could have done more to stop the Golden Boot contender's effort from finding the bottom corner. However, as Koeman made tactical adjustments to his team, England's succession of good chances turned into a string of poor passes.

That changed as the clock struck 90. Cole Palmer, a talented player for Chelsea, played a beautiful pass to substitute Ollie Watkins, who wasted no time unleashing a vicious shot from a tight angle that rippled the far side of the net and caused uncontrollable elation in England.

England became the first team in Euro history to advance to the final after falling behind in the quarterfinals and semifinals, and Kane now has more goals scored in significant tournament knockouts than any other European player in history, among many other records matched or broken by Southgate's stars at Signal Iduna Park.

No England senior men's team has ever played in a major tournament final abroad. However, Southgate, whose future is still a little distracting, finds new ways to lead the Three Lions to incredible victories, even though some doubters think he should have been fired long ago.

Being a part of the winning squad in the quarterfinals of Euro 1996 and then supervising a 3-2 Nations League victory in October 2018 are two of the 53-year-old's previous head-to-head experiences against Spain. 

While Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford will be cheering on their teammates from home for Sunday's epic clash, the next generation of English players has a golden opportunity to complete the holy trinity of European championships by matching the success of the women's and Under-21 teams.

Our Predictions

Spain to win @2.60 on Sky247.ng

Even though Southgate has admitted that England would settle for nothing short of perfection if they want to break a 58-year losing streak in the senior men's game, the Three Lions supporters have seen far from perfection from their cherished crop in Germany during the last few weeks.

After the Dutch fortified their midfield in the semifinal, England's offensive inventiveness waned until the lethal combination of Palmer and Watkins; a similar tale may unfold right from the start with the ever-present Rodri in action.

Even with De la Fuente's far-from-perfect defense, England should still score one goal. However, Spain's young forwards should again be too much for England's threatening defense to handle. The Three Lions will almost certainly cry in Sunday's final when La Roja becomes the most successful team in European Championship history, just as they did at Wembley three years ago.

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