The Olympiastadion will soon open its doors to another prestigious occasion—the awaited UEFA Euro 2024 Final between Spain and England. This venue has previously hosted the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final between Juventus and Barcelona, as well as the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final, which saw Italy beat France, among numerous other big occasions.
This time, however, Spain and England deserved the opportunity to take to this stage to try and lift the Euros trophy, with both teams proving capable of beating powerful teams to reach this last stage of the tournament.
In this tactical analysis article, we will present this final game of UEFA EURO 2024 before discussing both teams’ tactics and how they will need to approach the match. The analysis will also focus on both teams’ weaknesses and propose what to do to avoid exposing them in the final.
The journey to the final
Spain were able to impose their game from matchday one since they succeeded in finishing the group stage with nine points out of nine, winning all of their three games against Croatia, Italy and Albania. Their excellent form against these three teams made them believe more and more in their ability to achieve something important during this tournament, as the team has all that is needed to put on powerful performances in each game, even during the knockout phase.
Luis de la Fuente’s reliance on new and exceptional talents such as Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams, Pedri has already proved very successful during this competition. It can lead Spain to glory again after having lifted this trophy in 2008 and 2012. This renovation project within the Spanish national team started long ago and is finally starting to show its fruits. Spain are becoming very difficult to beat and has powerful players in each position.
That being said, Luis de la Fuente should keep his players’ feet on the ground and not get too confident following the win against France. Overconfidence might lead to underestimating England, and starting the game with the wrong mindset and being as aggressive as in the previous games in terms of pressing and as effective when in possession can help Spain get the advantage over England.
Nevertheless, the defensive aspect should not be overlooked, and Spain will need to do a lot of work and organisation to limit England’s attacking strengths from the wings and inside the box. In this regard, finding a way to stop Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, and one of Phil Foden or Cole Palmer will be crucial to making the game easier for Spain. Yet, this task will not be as simple as it may sound.
On the other hand, England have a second golden opportunity to lift their first-ever UEFA EURO trophy after they reached the final at Wembley in EURO 2020 but failed to beat Italy in that match. This time, Gareth Southgate and his players have the opportunity to aim at winning a historical trophy in Germany against Spain for the second time.
England started the tournament with plenty of committed errors, which provoked much criticism from fans and media. The team failed to win in its last two group-stage games after winning against Serbia. The two draws against Denmark and Slovenia highlighted England’s positioning issues in attack and the lack of tactical solutions, which led to confusion between the players and a visible lack of chemistry during certain attacking actions.
During the knockout phase, England were able to pass the Slovakia test with difficulty before doing relatively better against Switzerland and passing to the semi-finals following penalty shootouts. However, the team looked more into the game against the Netherlands in the semi-finals. It showed a lot of character and desire to win, and that was resumed in their second goal’s action that enabled them to pass to the final thanks to Ollie Watkins’s goal that came in the 90th minute.
England
Gareth Southgate said that “England will have to be tactically perfect” to beat Spain. This means that Southgate is aware of Spain’s strengths and knows that England must be at their best in both phases to cope with their opponent’s quick and dangerous wingers and the very effective possession game they use thanks to their world-class midfielders.
Although Southgate’s statement can be true, it also puts extra mental pressure on his own players, as they become aware that they need to be perfect in that match; otherwise, things could go wrong. England showed a lot of character in their last game against the Netherlands and need to confirm that against Spain in the final.
The 3-4-2-1 formation suited the team against the Netherlands and provided the necessary depth, even though it was expected to create confusion in terms of positioning between Bellingham and Foden. Also, the 3-4-2-1 guaranteed more defensive balance for the team and a bit more freedom for both wing-backs, who were able to advance whenever needed.
The following second goal action against the Netherlands highlights the importance of England’s substitutes and how they are becoming crucial within the team as such actions did not happen earlier in the tournament, which means that the group is believing more and more in their ability of achieving something.
The fact that Palmer assisted this goal and Watkins scored it gives credit to the players themselves but also to Southgate, as both players saved England from resorting to extra time and, therefore, reaching the final more tired than Spain.
Palmer’s dynamism during the second half in this match and the previous ones has often been remarkable, as he provides almost the same quality as Saka and has even better vision at times. This through pass to Watkins gave the opportunity to the latter to get the ball ahead of his direct opponent, turn around and shoot quickly to surprise the goalkeeper despite the difficult shooting angle. This goal also shows that Watkins can be very useful if given more minutes per game or if used alongside Kane from the beginning, which can be a very useful idea to disturb a compact defence like that of Spain.
At the same time, individual solutions, especially from the wings and from Bellingham/Foden, should be prioritised. Saka was capable of scoring the first goal against the Netherlands thanks to a solo effort and a curved shot from outside the box. To compensate for the team’s lack of attacking plans, solo efforts like the one shown below can represent the ultimate solution against Spain, in addition to crosses and set-pieces.
Moreover, encouraging the likes of Bellingham, Foden, and central midfielders to join the attack and aim at penetrating through the defence using dribbling or passing combinations can always cause problems for Spain’s defence, given the excellent penetrating and dribbling qualities of such players.
Defensive-wise, it will be important for England to find a way to stop both Yamal and Williams, as both players represent the most dangerous source of Spain’s attacking actions. Instructing wing-backs to mark these wingers tightly throughout the game with continuous support from close midfielders and two of the centre-backs can limit their danger and limit their passing trajectories.
Underestimating the finishing traits of Álvaro Morata just because he was not having great form during the last period can be a very big mistake as everything can change during such a game, and Morata proved previously that he can be as crucial as needed when he is physically and mentally ready. That’s why it will be very important to avoid leaving spaces like the one shown below during the Netherlands’ goal in order to limit Morata’s runs with the ball and the danger of the midfielders who come from behind like Rodri as such players are known for their excellent shooting from distance abilities.
Spain
Spain were tactically successful during most of their games in this tournament and convinced almost everyone thanks to their entertaining football and reliance on possession, overlaps on the wings, cuts inside, penetrations towards the box, and shooting from distance when needed.
Both wingers have been playing with ease so far and created a lot of problems for organised defences like those of Germany and Switzerland. The likes of Dani Olmo and Fabián Ruiz have also been the “secret” weapons for Spain as they often advance for specific missions and were already able to score crucial goals.
The following goal against Germany highlights Yamal’s ability to enter the box, fix his direct marker, and assist Olmo, who was coming from behind and finished the action with a first-time shot that went inside the net. Repeating similar actions against England can always be useful, as England’s defence can be more fragile than that of Germany, and England’s defenders are also slow.
The overlaps of Marc Cucurella and Dani Carvajal and their constant attacking support makes Spain very dangerous upfront as this paves the way for wingers to have more solutions. This goal example score against Germany shows how Cucurella’s movement without the ball was crucial to providing the necessary time and space for Olmo to cross in the way he wanted to allow Pedri to score a decisive header even though he was much shorter than his opponent Antonio Rüdiger.
This also stresses the fact that Spain’s midfielders can be unpredictable and represent a constant source of danger to any defence, whether with headers, shots from distance, or key passing inside the final third.
Spain, however, will need to be very attentive regarding set-pieces and crosses as they tend to commit some marking errors when defending against such actions. It is true that England can be dangerous from the wings and by players coming from behind and penetrating towards the box, yet the team’s most used attacking solution remains crossing and set-pieces. Spain will have to be, therefore, very strict regarding marking as it will be necessary to mark Kane tightly inside the box and be very attentive to first and second headers.
In this example, Spain conceded a goal due to a marking mistake at the start of the action, so it will be crucial to avoid falling into the same trap again against England. In this example, Germany’s receiver of the cross passed it directly to the unmarked player with a quick header to allow the latter to easily shoot on goal. England often executes Very similar actions to pave the way for Kane to score using headers.
Conclusion
The final game of UEFA EURO 2024 is quickly approaching, and both teams have a good chance of winning the game and the tournament if they focus on highlighting their strengths and hiding their weaknesses by making fewer mistakes in both phases.
Although Spain have a slight advantage thanks to their more convincing performances in the tournament overall, England still has equal chances. As the competition progressed, England showed that they have a lot of character and can score decisive goals even when they don’t perform at their best. Moreover, being “the underdogs” can often be helpful in performing better than the opponent who is playing under more pressure.
