It was another night of heartbreak for England as Spain scored late on to secure a 2-1 win in the Euro 2024 final last night.
Spain were the best team in the tournament and deserved winners, not only playing some of the most exciting football but also with some stats to back it up.
They scored more goals than any other team, with more tackles and more ball interceptions too, and also kept three clean sheets and had almost 60% of the possession across their games.
The only stat that really matters is the scoreline at the end of the game, and Spain made sure they got the job done with Mikel Oyarzabal’s 86th minute gosl, slotting home after a perfectly-timed cross from Marc Cucurella.
Spain had to beat Germany, France and England to win the trophy, as well as escaping a group with Italy and Croatia, so nobody can say that they didn’t deserve to win the trophy. The other thing they did which sounds simple but was important to their success, is that they kept the ball to control the tempo of the game. When they were winning they were able to take the energy down, which can stop the opponent believing that they can win.
It was also party time in Argentina after their win over Colombia in the Copa America final. Colombia were on a 28 game unbeaten run and took the game into extra time with the score at 0-0 and Messi on the sidelines with an injury. But Laturo Martinez grabbed the all-important goal before the game went to penalties, to give Argentina their 16th Copa America title.
Messi now has 4 international trophies in his cabinet, after having zero just three years ago. That makes Messi the most decorated player of all-time, overtaking Dani Alves with 45 trophies in total. #mmlove