Cucurella crowned a European champion with Spain

Marc Cucurella is a European champion.

Cucurella’s Spain beat England 2-1 in Berlin to win their fourth European Championship, their first since their triumph in Ukraine in 2012.

As Cucurella celebrated, it was commiserations for his Chelsea team-mates Cole Palmer – who scored England’s goal to make it 1-1 – and Conor Gallagher, who finished the tournament as runners-up.

Like he had done in all but one of Spain’s matches en route to the final, Cucurella started on the left-side of defence, while Palmer and Gallagher were named on the bench for England.

There was nothing to split the two sides at half-time, but it didn’t take long for Spain to take the lead in the second half as Nico Williams – who Cucurella had worked so well with down the left-hand side – put them ahead with only one minute on the clock after the interval. Teenager Lamine Yamal rolled a pass inside England’s box to find his team-mate, who buried the ball into the net.

With the Three Lions in need of an equaliser, Palmer entered the pitch with 20 minutes left to go… and find the leveler he did after being on the pitch for barely three minutes.

Scoring his first goal of the tournament, our forward found the bottom corner with a strike from distance, having been the one to work the ball forwards from his own half when he found Bukayo Saka down the flank.

Extra-time was looming, but with four minutes of normal time to go it was advantage Spain again, and Cucurella bagged the assist. Our defender burst down the left wing, before playing a superb low cross to find Mikel Oyarzabal who directed the ball into the net from the edge of the 12-yard box.

And that goal proved to be the winner as it finished 2-1 in Berlin, with Spain securing their title as the champions of Europe.