Again, football is not going home as serial cup losers, England failed on Sunday to win the European championship after losing 2-1 to Spain.

Fantastic Spain! They set a record by being the first four-time winner of the trophy and did it in beautiful fashion, winning all their seven matches.

They controlled the final match from kick-off to final whistle and are worthy winners.

And yet another positive, Yamal Lamine, the Moroccan born kid star has become the youngest player at age 17 and a day, to win a major trophy, sending into the archives, the feat by Pele in the 1958 World Cup.

For England, it is yet another cup loss. In two years’ time, it will be 60 years since they won a major trophy, the World Cup.

Even then, their 1966 World Cup win is still shrouded in controversy. Great Spain, they have extended the long wait of England for major football victory.

 Mikel Oyarzabal’s 87th-minute goal clinched the  2-1  victory for Spain.

He  slid in to poke home Marc Cucurella’s cross, just when the game at Berlin’s Olympiastadion seemed destined for extra time after the latest show of resilience by England at the tournament.

Substitute Cole Palmer equalized for England in the 73rd minute to cancel out Nico Williams’ opener in the 47th from 17-year-old prodigy Lamine Yamal’s pass.

Spain also won the title in 1964, 2008 and 2012.

Spain and England have experienced very different journeys to Sunday’s Euro 2024 final. We look at their path to Berlin below.

ENGLAND

England 1 Serbia 0

An early header by Jude Bellingham rewarded England for a good first half in their first game but they went off the boil and ended up hanging on for the win as manager Gareth Southgate’s gamble of starting with Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield backfired.

The tally of 11 shots – six by Serbia, five from England – was the lowest in a European Championship match since 1980, but within weeks England fans would have seen five shots as wild entertainment.

England 1 Denmark 1

England led through Harry Kane but struggled for control all game and Denmark deservedly equalised with a 30-yard pile-driver by Morten Hjulmand after a wild pass from Kane, who spent more time around his own box than the opposition’s. Results elsewhere later meant that England were guaranteed progress on four points.

England 0 Slovenia 0

A dull game where England managed three shots on goal ended with them nevertheless top of their group on five points, though it was the Slovenian players and fans celebrating at the end as they progressed to the knockout phase for the first time.

Round of 16: England 2 Slovakia 1 after extra time.

Ivan Schranz put outsiders Slovakia ahead in the first half and England seemed unable, almost unwilling, to do anything about it in another toothless display. They were rescued by Jude Bellingham’s brilliant bicycle kick in the 96th minute and won it with a Kane goal in extra-time – their only shots on target.

Southgate was widely criticised for his inactivity, with the focus on his decision to throw on striker Ivan Toney with one minute of stoppage time remaining.

Quarter-final: England 1 Switzerland 1. England win 5-3 on penalties

In a tight game Breel Embolo put Switzerland ahead after 75 minutes, with Bukayo Saka levelling with a great shot 10 minutes later as England improved, but were still shot-shy.

It went to penalties, but what for so long had been England’s weakness suddenly looked a strength as Cole Palmer, Bellingham, Saka, Toney and Alexander-Arnold all scored confidently and Jordan Pickford saved from Manuel Akanji.

Semi-final: England 2 Netherlands 1

For the third knockout game in a row England fell behind, to a superb Xavi Simons shot, but they responded brilliantly with an exhilarating first-half display that was unrecognisable from the stodge previously served up.

They equalised with a VAR-awarded Harry Kane penalty and went close several times. The second half was quieter but exploded in the 91st minute when substitute Ollie Watkins scored to take England into their second successive European Championship final.

SPAIN

Spain 3 Croatia 0

Spain set their Euros stall out with an impressive opening match demolition of Croatia with first-half goals by Alvaro Morata, Fabian Ruiz and Dani Carvajal.

Spain 1 Italy 0

A 1-0 win secured by an own goal might sound close but Spain totally outclassed the defending champions, firing in 20 attempts on goal, to gain revenge for their elimination by Italy in Euro 2024.

Spain 1 Albania 0

Already through, Spain made 10 changes for the game but were still comfortably in charge and won it with a superb early Ferran Torres strike.

Round of 16: Spain 4 Georgia 1

Despite the shock of going behind via Robin Le Normand’s own goal, Spain delivered another emphatic display.

Rodri equalised and second-half goals by the impressive Fabian Ruiz, Nico Williams and Dani Olmo saw them home.

Quarter-final: Spain 2 Germany 1 (aet)

After the Georgia cruise, Spain faced a considerable step up against the host nation but were deserved winners.

Olmo put them ahead early in the second half but Germany levelled a minute from time via Florian Wirtz.

The game was into the 119th minute and looked set for a penalty shootout when substitute Mikel Merino headed the winner.

Semi-final: Spain 2 France 1

Randal Kolo Muani put France ahead but two goals in five first-half minutes settled another deserved victory.

At 16, Lamine Yamal became the youngest scorer in a Euro or World Cup – and Spain’s 10th different scorer at the tournament – with a lovely curler, before Olmo scored for the third successive knockout game.

-Reuters

England face Spain in the Euro 2024 final on Sunday at the site of an infamous moment in their football history when the players gave the Nazi salute to the Olympiastadion crowd before the start of their 1938 friendly against Germany in Berlin.

Adolf Hitler was not there that day but Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Goering and Rudolf Hess were in the crowd as England’s players raised their arms to give the ‘Heil Hitler’ salute during Germany’s national anthem ahead of the game.

Neville Chamberlain’s British government was seeking appeasement with the Nazis, hoping to head off impending war.

The players were instructed before the match to give the Nazi salute, with the order coming from the Foreign Office for the sake of Anglo-German relations.

England won 6-3 but history has not looked kindly on the incident.

The Olympiastadion then held over 100,000 spectators, having been built for the 1936 Olympics where Black American sprinter Jesse Owens’ four gold medals punctured the Nazi myth of Aryan racial superiority.

If Owens’ achievements at the Berlin Games won him a place among the great all-time athletes, then Usain Bolt’s 9.58 seconds 100 metres world record at the stadium in 2009 at the world athletics championship sets him out as the best ever.

The Jamaican also ran 19.19 seconds in the 200 at the same meeting, a mark that also still stands some 15 years on.

Since World War Two, the Olympiastadion has had several renovations, notably ahead of the 2006 World Cup when a gigantic oval-shaped roof was installed and the stands extended further downwards, so that the crowds are closer to the playing surface.

Berlin hosted the final, another game remembered for a notorious incident rather than the action. Zinedine Zidane’s head-butt on the chest of Italy defender Marco Materazzi saw the France midfielder sent off and the Italians won on penalties.

The stadium is home to the German Cup final every season but its regular tenants Hertha Berlin slipped down to the second division last year, and attendances declined. Rivals Union Berlin played their Champions League matches there last season.

England remain unbeaten after five visits to the stadium, the last a 3-2 friendly win over Germany in March 2016.

Spain, whose only previous match at the Olympiastadion was in 1942, started their European Championship campaign at the venue with a 3-0 victory over Croatia that set the tone for their progress to Sunday’s final.

-Reuters