Spain wins record fourth European Championship title by inflicting another painful loss on England

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Spain’s Alvaro Morata holds the trophy as he celebrates with his teammates after winning the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. Spain won 2-1. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

BERLIN (AP) — Spain is the king of European soccer for a record fourth time. For England, it’s another agonizing near-miss in the team’s decades-long tale of underachievement.

Completing a tournament the team dominated from start to finish, Spain beat England 2-1 in the European Championship final on Sunday with Mikel Oyarzabal the unlikely match-winner in the 86th minute.

Oyarzabal, a backup striker who came on as a substitute for captain Alvaro Morata, slid in to poke home a left-wing cross by Marc Cucurella, just when the game at Berlin’s Olympiastadion seemed destined for extra time.

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Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal, right, celebrates with Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal, left, after scoring his side’s second goal during the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

England, the birthplace of soccer, is still without a major title in the men’s game since winning the 1966 World Cup and its players watched on forlornly as Morata raised aloft the silver trophy to backdrop of confetti and fireworks inside the stadium built for the 1936 Olympics.

Add 2024 to the titles won by Spain in 1964, 2008 and 2012.

“Here we are, champions of Europe,” said Nico Williams, whose opening goal for Spain in the 47th minute was canceled out by England substitute Cole Palmer in the 73rd. “We are thrilled and hope this can keep going and we can go for the (2026) World Cup.”

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Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal, center, scores his side’s second goal during the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Lamine Yamal, the prodigy who turned 17 on Saturday and is the youngest player to have appeared at a European Championship, set up Williams’ goal with an inside run before passing across the face of the area. The two wingers have become the poster boys of an exciting, multicultural team that reflects Spain’s changing demographics.

Yamal’s mother is from Equatorial Guinea and his father is from Morocco, while the 22-year-old Williams has Ghanaian parents who made the long journey to Europe looking for a better life. To make it to Spain, they had to ride on the back of a crowded truck and walk barefoot through the Sahara desert.

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Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal during the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

“I believe there is a historical change, we are really grateful,” said Williams, the player of the match with his darting runs and his second goal of Euro 2024.

“My parents have suffered a lot to get here. They are the ones who have suffered the most and they have instilled this sort of respect and loyalty in me,” he said. “I’m really happy because we are making history.”

Unlike his brother Inaki, who is a Ghana international, Nico chose to play for Spain and will now be regarded as a national hero there.

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From left, Spain’s Lamine Yamal, Spain’s Alvaro Morata and England’s Jude Bellingham fight for the ball during the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Spain is back as a major player in senior soccer after winning both the Women’s World Cup — also against England — and the men’s UEFA Nations League in 2023.

Since 2001, Spanish men’s teams have won 23 consecutive major finals in club and international soccer.

“I said before the tournament, nobody can hang with us,” Williams said.

Spain won all seven games at this European Championship — an unprecedented feat — and broke the record for goals scored in a single tournament, with 15.

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Spain’s Nico Williams celebrates after scoring his side’s opening goal during the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

There were joyous scenes after the final whistle, with defender Dani Carvajal piled on by jubilant teammates after slumping to the ground. Spain coach Luis de la Fuente was thrown into the air by his players. Both Cucurella and Yamal led Spain’s players in jumping over the advertising boards to reach the red-and-yellow-clad Spanish fans in the stadium’s east end.

“This is the best (birthday) gift I could have asked for,” Yamal said. “It is a dream come true.”

After getting his medal, the teenager turned and shook his fist in celebration, stuck his tongue out and showed off a beaming grin. By then, Yamal and his team mates were wearing Spain jerseys with “Kings of Europe” and the number “4” on the back.

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Spain players throw coach Luis de la Fuente in the air after winning the final match against England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Meanwhile, fans who had watched the game on a big screen in Madrid celebrated wildly, chanting “champions, champions” in Spanish. It was a great sporting day for the nation, with Carlos Alcaraz winning the Wimbledon men’s singles title for a second straight year hours before the Euro 2024 final.

As for England, the men’s team has now lost back-to-back Euro finals — it was defeated in a penalty shootout by Italy on home soil in the final in 2021 — and this was another painful loss for a team that will have gone six decades without a major title by the next World Cup.

England’s women have been more successful, though, winning the European Championship in 2021 and reaching the World Cup final two years later.

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Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal celebrates with Nico Williams, left, after scoring his side’s second goal during the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

“This time it just wasn’t meant to be,” Prince William, who attended the final alongside other dignitaries including Spain’s King Felipe, wrote on social media. “We’re all still so proud of you.”

It was the fourth straight game that the English came from behind since the group stage, but their resilience wasn’t rewarded this time.

A team that has produced big moments when it really mattered at Euro 2024 — including Jude Bellingham’s 95th-minute overhead kick against Slovakia in the round of 16 — couldn’t deliver another one, with Spain midfielder Dani Olmo clearing the ball off the line at a corner in the 89th minute.

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England’s manager Gareth Southgate walks past the trophy at the end of the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. Spain won 2-1. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

“It has been a difficult ride, we have done extremely well to get here, but ultimately we are going to be judged on this game,” England captain Harry Kane said.

“It’s extremely painful,” he added. “It’s going to hurt for a long, long time.”

England coach Gareth Southgate, who has been in charge for eight years and also led the team to the World Cup semifinals in 2018, said it wasn’t the time to make a decision on his future. His contract expires in December.

“Most of this squad are going to be around not just for the World Cup but the next Euros as well,” Southgate said. “There’s a lot to look forward to but at this moment that’s not any consolation.”

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England’s Harry Kane, right, and England’s Bukayo Saka react at the end of the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

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Fans of Spain cheers before the start of the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

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Spain players celebrate after winning the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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England’s goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, left, reacts at the end of the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

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England’s Jude Bellingham walks past the trophy after the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. Spain won 2-1. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

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Pyrotechnics go off as Spanish players celebrate after they won the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

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Spain’s Lamine Yamal poses with the trophy after the final match against England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. Spain won the game 2-1. (Tom Weller/dpa via AP)

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Spain’s head coach Luis de la Fuente gestures to Lamine Yamal after they collected their medals for winning the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. Spain won 2-1. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

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Spain’s Alvaro Morata kisses the trophy after winning the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

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Spain supporters celebrate in Madrid, Spain, July 14, 2024 during the screening of the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin Germany. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

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Spanish King Felipe VI holds the trophy as he and his daughter Princess Sofia celebrate with the players they won the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

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Britain’s Prince William greets England’s Harry Kane after the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. Spain won 2-1. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

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England’s Harry Kane is shown on a screen at a fan zone during the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

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England fans react during the final match between Spain and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament, at a fan zone in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

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Ciaran Fahey and James Ellingworth in Berlin, Daniella Matar in Milan and Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain, contributed to this report.

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AP Euro 2024: https://apnews.com/hub/euro-2024