The Spanish national team made it to the final of the European Football Championship, defeating the French in the semifinals and achieving their sixth victory in six matches at the tournament. Sports is about the brightest team at Euro 2024, a young star who broke another record, and hopeless France, which, despite the final bronze, is unlikely to be able to take credit for its performance on the fields of Germany.
Euro 202409 July 2024 • starts at 22:00Completed
SpainSpain2 : 1
FranceFrance
21' • Lamin Yamal25' • Dani Olmo
09' • Randal Colot-Mouany (Kylian Mbappé)
An evening of classic football It was as if yesterday we were watching the opening match of the Euro in Munich, admiring the power of German football players and looking forward to a whole month of great football… And here we are again in Munich, the last match at the Allianz Arena. The German national team was eliminated in the quarterfinals, great matches in the groups were replaced by the most cautious playoff meetings with a minimum number of goals scored, an own goal became the top scorer by a large margin. And now only two matches separate us from the end of the European Championship: the second semi-final and the decisive match in Berlin on July 14.
Today we saw semi-final No. 1. Spain, which had just knocked the Germans out of the home tournament at the previous stage, was seen as the clear favorite of the tournament. She scores a lot, hardly concedes and wins all matches — excellent characteristics of Luis de la Fuente's guys against the backdrop of the Netherlands, which has just gained momentum, and the sluggish, tortured for victories of the British and French… The latter, however, could boast of a lot of experience: after all, there is a victory at the Russian World Cup 2018 and silver at the Qatar World Cup.
There was no doubt: the tricolor and coach Didier Deschamps would have something to offer the unstoppable Furies Roja.
Extravaganza of a schoolboy from Barcelona The playoff matches are not encouraging with an abundance of goals scored (we repeat), so no one expected a large number of goals in Tuesday’s match. Yes, Spain played, the most successful team in the Euro, but France conceded only once… That’s why it’s amazing that by the 25th minute we saw three goals!
The “Tricolors” got hooked at first, but it was they who opened the scoring. Kylian Mbappe crossed into the penalty area, and Randal Kolo Muani famously completed the pass. But the nominal guests did not last long: within four minutes, Mike Maignan twice took the ball out of his goal. Lamin Yamal, a 16-year-old young man who broke many Euro records, set several more unique achievements. The Spaniard overtook the great Pele, becoming the youngest participant in the semi-finals at the World Cup/Euro, and the Swiss Johan Vonlanthen — now he is the youngest goal scorer in the history of the European Championships. The guy got the right shot: along a sweeping trajectory exactly into the far corner.
And Spain was put ahead — not without the help of a rebound — by Dani Olmo, who distinguished himself for the second match in a row. It was he who, coming on as a substitute for Pedri, who had suffered a sprained lateral ligament of the knee, opened the scoring in the match with Germany.
And again it was boring… The break was left behind, and France rushed to recoup. Aurélien Tchouameni and Mbappe had non-dangerous chances, but the Furies Roja controlled the game and did not allow the opponent to have possession of the ball for a long time and really strain their goalkeeper. Even captain Alvaro Morata, playing as a central striker, went into defense.
Deschamps began to rebuild the lineup — a triple substitution with the entry of Eduardo Camavinga, Bradley Barcol and Antoine Griezmann, who unexpectedly remained on the bench. And they managed to put pressure on the Spaniards, more and more attacks began to come through the left flank. But the implementation let them down: Theo Hernandez sent the ball over the crossbar from an excellent position. And Olivier Giroud, who appeared at the end of the match, was remembered only for a clash with Aymeric Laporte, in which the Spaniard suffered a nose injury.
The best thing that can be said about the current French team is that they were not even able to stage a decisive assault. The Spaniards calmly maintained a minimal advantage and showed how great the gap is between the current “tricolors” and that merciless team that took the World Cup gold six years ago.
The return of Spanish greatness? France never saw the «resurrection» of Mbappe, who played today without a protective mask. The star of the national team, the newcomer of Real Madrid, could not cope with injuries, which affected the forward's form after the 2023/24 season. The team miraculously won bronze medals, although based on the game, they hardly deserved to even reach the quarterfinals. Thanks to an own goal.
France is doing great at the World Cup, but in Europe… After the home final at Euro 2016, Deschamps' team has been unable to repeat the silver medal for the second time in a row, let alone the gold one from 24 years ago.
But Yamal and company are still riding high. After the triumphant European Championships of 2008 and 2012, as well as the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, «La Furia Roja» has been missing out on big finals for 12 years. Today they have corrected this — on July 14, the Spaniards will meet England or the Netherlands at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin and will try to become four-time winners of the Old World championship.
- Record holders for the number of Euro finals: Germany (6), SPAIN (5), USSR/Russia and Italy (4 each), France (3).