How Spain won a record fourth Euro title, and why England lost it.
In the end they had over half the Team of the Tournament, the Player of the Tournament, the Young Player of the Tournament and the joint Top Scorer.
Hence there can be no doubt that Spain deserved their victory in Germany and to gain a record fourth such title.
Guided by the relatively unheralded Luis de la Fuente this Spanish side negotiated their way through a potentially tricky group, including Italy and Croatia, without conceding a goal.
Before going on to beat newcomers Georgia and then much tougher opponents in Germany and France.
They proved strong enough to knock out the hosts and a Kylian Mbappe-led French team in the semis.
And they would go into the final as favourites against an England side that had generally underperformed.
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What de la Fuente, who previously had control of the Spanish youth teams, managed to do was create a team that was greater than the sum of the parts.
And it was their ability to pass the ball better and to create the superior chances that made the difference, despite playing against a more highly rated squad.
Though it is doubtful this winning Spain team can be classed as good as the one that won in 2012 it did beat all comers.
Playing, perhaps, a more direct system using talented wide men in Nico Williams and the precocious Yamine Lamal (your Young Player of the Tournament) combined with striker Alvaro Morata.
Before over 65,000 fans and a vast broadcast audience, Williams would score the first goal in the final assisted by Yamal and though England managed a reply from substitute Cole Palmer it seemed inevitable that Spain would prevail.
And they did when Mikel Oyarzabal reached a cross before an opposition defender to guide in the winner on 86 minutes.
They had achieved the victory despite losing Player of the Tournament Rodri due to a first half injury.
That, too, highlighted their ability to withstand setbacks within the team set up.
As for Gareth Southgate’s England they often looked fairly lacklustre in the group stage and, despite having a comfortable looking route to the final, needed late goals or penalties and some luck to progress.
On one hand England had made it to another major final but many still expected both improved performances and better results, especially considering the strength of their squad.
Which included the best player in the Spanish league (Bellingham), the Premier League player of the season (Foden), and the winner of the European Golden Shoe (Kane) as well as many other highly valued talents.
But the coach definitely moved the team forward during his tenure helped by the prior investment in talent development.
An achievement that should be lauded, but the nagging feeling is that they could have gone one better, either at Wembley in 2021 or in Berlin in July.
Underperforming players, tiredness, odd decisions regarding players’ positioning and timing of substitutions, all played their part.
But, in an echo of previous failings, perhaps the crucial difference, in contrast to Spain, was that the team was often less than the sum of the parts.
How that ongoing situation is solved will, inevitably, be difficult for whoever takes over from the departing Southgate.
How to meld those superstars from very powerful clubs into a well functioning squad will be one of the main challenges for the incoming coach.
Solve that and England might just end 60 years or so of hurt.
Analysis - John Bethell
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