2024-07-09 23:46:24
By Diego Alonso Martin
On to the final! Spain defeated France 2-1 in the semi-finals of Euro 2024 on Tuesday despite starting behind on the scoreboard in Munich, and will fight for the title next Sunday against the Netherlands or England.
Goals from Lamine Yamal (21) and Dani Olmo (25) turned around the scoreline opened by Randal Kolo Muani (9) and sent ‘La Roja’ to its third Euro Cup final in the last five editions.
The favourites of European superstar Kylian Mbappé are saying goodbye to France after a tournament in which they have paid dearly for the lack of accuracy of their attackers. The new Real Madrid player says goodbye to Germany with only one goal scored, a penalty.
On Sunday in Berlin, Spain will face England or the Netherlands for their fourth continental title and break the record of three they share with Germany.
To do so, they had to overcome a goal in Munich against a crowd that was overwhelmingly against Spain. The French fans outnumbered the Spanish, while the home crowd booed players such as Marc Cucurella and Mikel Merino, who were the stars of the quarter-final against hosts Germany.
– Record after record –
On the pitch, Spain came into the match aware that their rival would be comfortable giving up possession, and that’s how the first few minutes went, with ‘La Roja’ settling into the opponent’s half and with a first attempt by Fabián Ruiz, a header over the crossbar (5).
But Les Bleus, who have been erratic in front of goal throughout the tournament, failed to give any warning on this occasion: from inside the area, Kylian Mbappé crossed to the far post, where Randal Kolo Muani leapt higher than the Spanish defence to head comfortably past Unai Simon.
Just as it had happened against Georgia in the round of 16, the goal conceded left the Spaniards off balance, and they were on the verge of paying for their lack of coordination in the attacks of France, which had smelled blood.
And in this context of maximum need and pressure, Lamine Yamal’s left foot appeared from the edge of the box to score one of the goals of the tournament, a beautiful shot from 25 metres away towards the top corner of Mike Maignan, who was unable to touch the ball.
Yamal has become the youngest player to play in a European Championship match and also the youngest to provide an assist, breaking a record that has stood for 20 years.
At 16 years and 362 days old, he has surpassed Johan Vonlanthen’s record for scoring the most goals in a European Championship, which has been in place since the 2004 edition after also scoring against France.
– Olmo’s third goal in the Euro –
But while some records take decades to break, games can change in seconds, and four minutes later Dani Olmo’s shot, helped by contact with Jules Koundé’s body, found the back of the net, putting La Roja ahead with the RB Leipzig player’s third goal of the season.
The game was slowly slowing down at a thousand revolutions, and it was necessary to wait for a risky exit by Maignan (47) at the start of the second half to enjoy chances again.
In the opposing goal, Unai Simón was activated with several attacks from France and a header from Aurelién Tchouaméni (54), reminders of a still open result, but without worrying the Athletic goalkeeper.
Despite the changes, with which Deschamps brought on attacking players such as Antoine Griezmann (62) and Oliver Giroud (79), ‘La Roja’ once again showed their most controlling side and Yamal sought a double (81) but sent the ball over the crossbar.
Mbappé had the last one (86), but he could not prevent the victory of the ‘Roja’, celebrated with a corridor for the players on the Munich grass that leads directly to Berlin.
dam/dr
© Agence France-Presse
