The Spain Euro 2024 squad has a great opportunity to repeat the achievements of what their predecessors managed in both 2008 and 2012, as they prepare for Sunday's final.
Coming into Euro 2024, Spain weren't massively fancied. Their defence looked too shaky, their attack a little toothless and the manager untested at the elite level. How wrong everyone was.
After six games, Spain have been comfortably the most impressive team at the tournament, with their quality on sharp display throughout. Rodri, Fabian Ruiz, Nico Williams, Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo and Aymeric Laporte have all shown just how good they are - heck, even ridiculed left-back Marc Cucurella has had somewhat of a redemption arc in Germany this summer.
England now stand in the way of La Roja and the European Championship trophy, with Sunday's final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin set to be an absolute corker. Both sides have completely different styles, which promises to provide an excellent match-up on the day.
It's been relatively straightforward for Spain to reach the final, too. While the group stages initially looked difficult, they proved it was anything but. Spain followed their 3-0 opening day victory against Croatia up with a hard-fought, but well-deserved, 1-0 win over Italy in their second match. This not only secured their spot in the knockout stages, but also their status as group winners. That's because Croatia and Albania could only manage a draw in their respective game, with head-to-head records used at Euro 2024 to differentiate teams level on points.
That didn't stop the much-changed Spain side from dispatching Albania in their final group game, either, as manager Luis de la Fuente named a largely different team from the one that had worked so well for him earlier in the tournament. In doing so, their players were refreshed and well-rested ahead of facing Georgia in the last 16 - and it showed.
Sure, the quarter-final against Germany was a nervy affair which went into extra-time, but players continue to pop up for La Roja that seems to suggest fortune is on their side this tournament. Dani Olmo bagged first against Germany before the hosts managed to fight back with the help of their home crowd. In extra-time, though, Mikel Merino popped up with an essential header to help Spain into the final four - suggesting they're the side to stop at this tournament.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
Then, in the semis against France, they accepted going 1-0 down by hitting back through a brilliant Yamal strike from outside the box, before Olmo bagged the winner in the 25th minute. Talk about staying calm under pressure - especially when they were without regular defenders Dani Carvajal and Robin Le Normand, too.
With yellow cards wiped after the quarter-finals, no Spain player is suspended for the final. Robin Le Normand and Dani Carvajal served their one-match suspenions in the semis.
Spain manager: Luis de la Fuente
Luis de la Fuente, Spain manager (Image credit: Getty Images)
The Spain boss has taken a slightly unconventional route to the job: he's not managed at club level since a brief spell in charge of Alaves in 2011, but spent eight years charge of three different Spanish national youth levels. Hey, if it worked for England...
Luis de la Fuente has been part of the Spanish FA fabric for a decade as a Euros-winning manager of the Under-19s and then the U21s. As senior coach, he has mined both cohorts for players.
Since replacing Luis Enrique in 2022, the ex-Athletic Bilbao left-back has gone Basque to basics to make La Roja more direct, but possession is still paramount.
Spain's star player
Rodri
Rodri is one of the first names on the Spain teamsheet (Image credit: Getty Images)
Rodri hadn't finished a competitive fixture on the losing side for club nor country in more than a year before the FA Cup final against Manchester United - a run that stretched back 60-plus matches to Spain's 2023 defeat to Scotland at Hampden Park.
The 27-year-old Manchester City midfielder is the fulcrum around which the myriad creative waifs sprinkle their magic.
Rodri is also one of the leaders in a Spain side with plenty of youth around it, having been named as vice-captain behind Morata for the tournament.
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.
