Humble Oyarzabal revels in ´job done´ after powering Spain to Euro 2024 glory

Mikel Oyarzabal proved Spain’s hero in the Euro 2024 final, sealing a job well done for the La Roja substitute against England.

Real Sociedad’s Oyarzabal scored with four minutes remaining after coming on as a second-half substitute, helping Luis de la Fuente’s team to their fourth European Championship crown.

That is more than any other nation has managed in the competition’s 64-year history as Spain were indebted to Oyarzabal’s deft finish from Marc Cucurella’s left-wing delivery.

The 27-year-old refused to take the acclaim for his heroics against Gareth Southgate’s side, however.

“I have done my job. I did what I had to do at every moment to try to help,” Spain’s match-winner told reporters after Sunday’s 2-1 win.

“I was lucky enough to give the victory. Just the fact of being in the 27, you value it a lot here. To have the moment to help as it has happened to me is the best.

“It happened to me but could have happened to anyone.”

23 – Since the 2002 UEFA Champions League final, Spanish teams and the Spanish national team have played in 23 major finals (Champions League, UEFA Cup, Europa League, World Cup, European Championship) against non-Spanish teams and won the trophy on all 23 occasions. Campeones. pic.twitter.com/GBiCCCIYul

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 14, 2024

Nico Williams had earlier opened the scoring after the interval before substitute Cole Palmer levelled to tee up a tantalising finale.

Williams, aged 22 years and two days, became the second youngest player to score in a Euros final, behind only Pietro Anastasi in 1968 for Italy (20 years, 64 days).

His finish, just 69 seconds in the second half, was also the earliest second-half goal scored in a European Championship showpiece.

“Euphoric. All our people deserve it. We suffered a lot. They had a good team,” Williams said after full-time in Berlin.

“They have players who can make the difference but we were able to counter their weapons and in the end we won the European Championship and we are very happy.”