Euro 2024 Data Dive: Spain hand baton to Yamal, Olmo emulates Roja great

Once the dominant force in Europe, Spain reclaimed their place among the elite of international football on Tuesday.

La Roja reached their first major tournament final since Euro 2012 following a 2-1 victory over France in Munich.

After several dull knockout games meandered their way to extra time and penalties, a frenetic 25 minutes had eyes across the world glued to their screens for this one.

With Spain the first team to book their place in Sunday’s final, we take a deep dive into the best Opta statistics from a memorable encounter.

Spain 2-1 France: Roja baton passed down to Yamal

In a battle between the tournament’s most potent strike force and best defence, it would be La Roja’s crop of attacking talent that emerged victorious.

Attention was fixated on the talented feet of youngster Yamal, and his goal was worthy of winning any semi-final, let alone levelling it.

Yamal twisted and turned before curling a fine effort beyond the grasp of Mike Maignan and in off the post, announcing football’s newest superstar on the big stage.

And at the age of 16 years and 362 days, the Barcelona forward became the youngest goalscorer at a major tournament (World Cup/Euros), a record previously held by Brazil’s Pele against Wales at the 1958 World Cup (17 years, 239 days).

While Yamal is only beginning his footballing journey, history was also made by one of the senior players in the Roja dressing room.

Despite enduring a difficult evening against Kylian Mbappe, Spain’s Jesus Navas will leave Germany with a record to his name, and possibly the Henri Delaunay Cup.

At 38 years and 231 days, Navas became the oldest ever outfield player to appear in a semi-final at a major international tournament.

38 – Jesús Navas (38 years 231 days) becomes the oldest outfield player to play in a Euro+World Cup semi-final, surpassing Fritz Walter (37 years 236 days) and Gunnar Gren (37 years 236 days), who faced each other in the 1958 World Cup semi-final.

Experience. pic.twitter.com/9RKL932PP4

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) July 9, 2024

While much of the focus will centre around the mercurial talents of Yamal, midfielder Dani Olmo once again proved his worth to Luis de la Fuente’s side.

Olmo was on target again for Spain, doing brilliantly to manoeuvre space inside the France penalty area before striking the ball home for what proved to be the winner.

The RB Leipzig midfielder became the first Spanish player to score in three successive games at the European Championship finals, while his five goal involvements at Euro 2024 (three goals, two assists) are the most by a Spaniard at a major tournament since David Silva at Euro 2012 (two goals, three assists).

Olmo also had the joint-most touches in the opposition box along with Fabian Ruiz (three), also showing his defensive influence by winning four of his six duels, a total only bettered by Yamal and Alvaro Morata (both six).

3 – RB Leipzig’s Dani Olmo became the first Spaniard to score in three consecutive European Championship matches. Shape. #ESPFRA #EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/1dmzkSCzKJ

— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) July 9, 2024

Spain’s triumph also saw them become the first team to win six matches at a single edition of the Euros, while including World Cups, only Brazil in 2002 have won more games at a major international tournament (seven).

For France, however, their stuttering run in Germany finally came to an end.

It is only the second time Les Bleus have taken the lead and lost a game at the European Championships, having last done so at Euro 2000, in a 3-2 defeat to the Netherlands in the group stages.

Ranal Kolo Muani’s eighth-minute strike threatened to tell a different story, but it wasn’t meant to be for Didier Deschamps’ side.

It was Kolo Muani’s fifth goal in his last five starts for France in all competitions (four goals, one assist).

The Paris Saint-Germain forward also became just the third player to score for France in the semi-finals of both the World Cup and Euros, after Michel Platini and Zinedine Zidane.

The defeat also marked the first time Les Bleus have been eliminated at the semi-final stage of a major tournament since Euro 1996, with only Germany (eight) going out of major tournaments at the semi-final stage more often among European sides than France (six).