Euro 2024 final: The best team won

Morning all.

Spain are European champions after a 2-1 win over England in Berlin last night. The first half is barely worth talking about, so little happened, but the second began with a flourish. Lamine Yamal got away from Luke Shaw, and played a ball across the box to the effervescent Nico Williams (pls Edu, get the BBQmobile on the road to Bilbao), the first time finish with his left foot left Jordan Pickford stranded and it was 1-0.

The goal came minutes after Spain emerged for the second half without Rodri, something which ought to have given England a boost, but as he has been throughout this tournament, Harry Kane’s presence up top was a more significant handicap than the opposition losing the best defensive midfielder in the world. I took a lot of stick on Twitter this week after I suggested Ollie Watkins should start the final in Kane’s place, and it’s not that I give a fish’s tit about salty Sp*rs fans in my mentions, but England needed Gareth Southgate to be brave with his team selection and he wasn’t.

When the Aston Villa man came on, he made a difference. Kane was turgid, slow, old, probably unfit – and the evidence of that was obvious to anyone with eyes throughout this tournament. I understand loyalty, I understand his stature and reputation and history, but those things are nice to talk about in books after a career is done. They don’t help you win matches at major tournaments when it’s clear a player is not at the required level.

Spain could have scored more, Pickford made a couple of good saves, but then Bukayo Saka burst down the right, he found Jude Bellingham whose layoff to substitute Cole Palmer was lovely, and the finish unerring. All of a sudden it was 1-1, and game on again. It looked as if we were heading for extra-time but Kyle Walker was too slow again (how Trent Alexander-Arnold barely got a look-in at right-back is astonishing to me), Marc Cucurella put in an excellent ball from the left hand side, and Mikel Oyarzabal (on for Alvaro Morata) applied the finish – keeping himself onside by the tightest of margins.

Declan Rice forced Unai Simon into a save which Marc Guehi followed up with a header that was cleared off the line, but there was no late drama this time. No moment of magic or individual inspiration to rescue England. I think it’s fair to say that Spain have been the best team at Euro 2024, wining all seven matches, and they were the best side last night too. They deserved to win it.

As for England, no doubt there will be plenty of analysis, but when you look at the pool of talent Gareth Southgate had at his disposal, there have to be questions asked about the overall level of performances. That 45 minutes against the Netherlands aside, there wasn’t much to write home about. Bellingham did a brilliant thing, Saka did a brilliant thing, those things saved England, and while getting to another final is obviously commendable, Southgate’s safety first approach doesn’t get the best out of the quality he has, and leans too heavily into players who are in the team because of their name, rather than on merit.

From an Arsenal perspective, it was sad to see Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice at the final whistle. A long, gruelling tournament ends with more pain and heartache, to add to then long, gruelling season they had with Arsenal which also ended with disappointment. Pipped to the title by Man City, pipped to the Euros by a late Spain goal. They’re going to feel every minute they played, all those hard yards they put in, and I think Mikel Arteta is going to have to think very carefully about what they now need.

A break, a holiday, some time off to reset and recuperate: that’s obvious. Nobody expects them back anytime soon, but when they do return, how do they go into a new season without feeling the effects of 11 months of generally outstanding performances with nothing to show for it in terms of silverware? It might be a motivating factor, to be fair, but they looked shattered at the end last night, and it’s hard not to worry a bit. Let’s hope they, and Aaron Ramsdale, get the rest they need and take a few weeks away from the public gaze to unwind properly.

So, all in all, I think it’s been a pretty enjoyable tournament. It feels like it all began a long-time ago, but it’s done and dusted now. Let’s hope the Arsenal news picks up over the coming days, and that the wheels start turning in the transfer window.

Stand by for an Arsecast Extra a little later this morning. Keep an eye out for the call for questions on Twitter @gunnerblog and @arseblog on Twitter with the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server.

Pod should be out by lunchtime. For now, have a good one.

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