{"id":287431,"date":"2025-07-24T08:22:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T08:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/287431\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T08:22:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T08:22:09","slug":"outstanding-midfield-and-proven-winners-englands-final-opponents-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/287431\/","title":{"rendered":"Outstanding midfield and proven winners \u2013 England\u2019s final opponents Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 cKWiEj\">From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it&#8217;s investigating the financials of Elon Musk&#8217;s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, &#8216;The A Word&#8217;, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 cKWiEj\">At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 cKWiEj\">The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n<p><strong class=\"sc-1uza6dc-1 huxBsk\">Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong>Read more<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/england\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">England<\/a> will face <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/spain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spain<\/a> in the final of Euro 2025 on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Here, the PA news agency analyses their opponents.<\/p>\n<p>Style<\/p>\n<p>Spain have shone throughout the tournament playing a rich brand of possession-based, fluid attacking football, very much in keeping with the country\u2019s traditions. Coach Montse Tome has an enviable array of world-class players at her disposal and knows she can get on the front foot, confident of being able to dictate games.<\/p>\n<p>Tournament form<\/p>\n<p>The reigning world champions have lived up to their billing as favourites, producing some impressive performances en route to the final. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/portugal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Portugal<\/a> were vanquished 5-0 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/belgium\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Belgium<\/a> 6-2 in a strong statement of intent during the group stages and the 2-0 defeat of hosts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/switzerland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Switzerland<\/a> in the quarter-finals was a thoroughly professional display against stubborn opponents. They had to dig deep to see off Germany in extra time to reach the final.<\/p>\n<p>History &amp; pedigree<\/p>\n<p>There is no doubting Spain\u2019s pedigree, having won the World Cup in 2023 and the UEFA Nations League last year. They are a formidable outfit and this more than makes up for a lack of past success in the tournament. This is only the fifth time they have played at the Euros and their first appearance in the final.<\/p>\n<p>Rivalry<\/p>\n<p>Recent meetings have been fairly evenly matched, with England beating Spain 1-0 in the Nations League in February, but that result being reversed as Sarina Wiegman\u2019s side lost 2-1 last month. Spain, of course, edged the most prestigious fixture of them all with a 1-0 triumph in the World Cup final two years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Ones to watch<\/p>\n<p>Spain have no shortage of talent and their midfield trio of Alexia Putellas, Aitana Bonmati and Patri Guijarro is outstanding. Forward Esther Gonzalez has her eyes on the golden boot and defender Laia Aleixandri is available again after suspension.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-287431","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114907247111236353","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}