CHENNAI: Football did go home on Sunday night. At least to its modern home. Spain.
Real Madrid are the current holders of the Champions League. Between 2009 and 2019, the Ballon d'Or winners came exclusively from La Liga. Pep Guardiola's influence on the world of football is so vast that clubs lower down the pyramid have tried to put in place a more modern ideology. Goalkeepers everywhere are encouraged to pass it out from the back.
Kylian Mbappe, widely recognised as one of the world's best players in the game today, is moving to Spain. There is Guardiola's blueprint wherever you look — Mikel Arteta is at Arsenal, Enzo Maresa at Chelsea, Eric ten Haag at Manchester United, Vincent Kompany at Bayern Munich and Xavi Hernandez, who called Barcelona home till May. They have all played or learned the grammar of coaching under him.
Out of the 52 players who either featured or were on the bench for the final, the guardian had made the point that 27 were coached by a Spanish manager at club level immediately before the start of the European Championship. In the 16 years since the Euros in 2008, the country has lost a grand total of one match in normal time in the knockout stages of a big event (against Italy in 2016). Since 2002, there have been 27 instances of a men's Spanish team in a big (World Cup, Euros, Champions League and Europa League) final. Spanish sides have won on all occasions.
Based on this performance against England, the Iberians will continue to have other sides chasing their shadows. Now, they are the sole leaders in terms of Euros with four.
And, so, when the individual gongs were handed out, it wasn't a surprise to see them walking away with all the major honours. Rodrigo Hernandez? Player of the tournament. Lamine Yamal? Young player of the tournament. Dani Olmo? Golden boot. Nico Williams? Player of the final.
And there's no better place to start than Williams, whose first-time finish to begin the second half turned an attritional first 45 minutes into a very watchable second. Born to Ghanaian parents who fled their country before seeking political asylum in Melilla, Spain's North African Enclave (they were encouraged by a lawyer to say they were fleeing Liberia, a country at war), the 22-year-old has long been identified as a star in the making since making his debut for Athletic Bilbao in 2021 as a teen.
Just before coming to the Euros, he had a poignant moment for his boyhood club. After playing a big role in the final of the Copa del Rey (he assisted Bilbao's only goal), he watched on from the bench as they won their first title in 40 years.
The last time his club had won a Cup, Maria and Felix, his parents, were still in Ghana and it was the 1980s. Staying in the 1980s, Spain were considered as one of the great underachievers. Their only major trophy had come at the Euros in 1964.
Not anymore. After the disappointment of the 2006 World Cup, Spain tore up their DNA with a new blueprint. Players high on technique and ball retention were sought and fast-tracked into the first team. Forwards were eschewed as a false-nine (a withdrawn player) came in. Out-and-out wingers went out of fashion as wide playmakers replaced them. A Golden Generation of players — led by Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Ramos and David Silva — won two Euros sandwiched by a World Cup.
By the time 2014 came around, this style needed reinvention. It has taken time but the magic is back. For instance, at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, they made over a 1000 passes against the host nation (Russia made 300 in 120 minutes, for comparison) in the pre-quarterfinals. Spain ended up losing on penalties.
Dogma is well and good but the process had become stale. They suffered from similar issues at the last World Cup. So, when the keys to the senior side were given to Luis de la Fuente, he was clear. He wanted to build a new house, one predicated on playing fast, fun football. He was okay not having possession as long as they were being more vertical.
And he was true to his word as a millennial version was repurposed for the TikTok generation. For the first time in a competitive match in 16 years, Spain conceded more possession to an opponent (against Croatia in their first game in Berlin a month ago). It didn't matter because that warning shot — a resounding 3-0 win — echoed throughout the country. They were fast, their wingers were direct and it was cool. A dogma had quietly been shelved. It has happened a few times since but this Spain can hurt in other ways.
They showed it in less than 80 seconds into the second-half. In the first half, they were more focused on maintaining structure, passes went sideways rather than forwards and some of that dazzling one-touch play was missing. After a half-time debrief, they corrected that with one of the goals of the tournament.
After Aymeric Laporte took hold of possession, he dribbled forward before laying it off to Fabian Ruiz who had peeled towards the right. Ruiz looked up and spotted Dani Carvajal. The right-back's instinctive first-time clip eliminated three English players from the move and Yamal suddenly had green grass in front of him. Yamal cut in and dribbled through the heart of the defense before switching the play to an onrushing Williams on the left. His first-time finish bulged the net. Spain had lift-off.
This is exactly the play previous La Roja teams were missing. This one, though, has it in spades. England did equalise — thanks to another piece of individual skill — but Spain could and should have been out of sight by then. Yamal was denied by Jordan Pickford while Williams almost doubled their advantage.
Even the winner had the hallmarks of the modern, more direct Spain. After Pedri was ruled out with injury, Dani Olmo, the replacement, has had an outsized influence on the tournament. While the Barcelona man is more of an 8, Olmo is a 10. The latter is a runner, who likes to dribble, release players and go for 1-2s. Pedri is more of a ball-hogger, who likes to take more touches before playing that killer pass.
In the 86th minute, Olmo spotted the pass to Mikel Oyarzabal, the replacement for Alvara Morata. Oyarzabal opted for a first-time pass out wide to Marc Cucurella who had the freedom to look up and play a first-time cross. Oyarzabal, who didn't stop, almost slide-tackled the ball home.
And, thus, this tournament had an apt winner, the only team who played as champions elect throughout. Played seven, won seven. In the process, they created a first. They became the first champions to beat every European nation to have won the men's World Cup apart from themselves. Italy, England, France, Germany.
In two years time, they will aim to emulate the Class of Iniesta. If they do that, they will unite the two football World Cups, something no country has ever done before.
For the women are already World Champions.