Spain won all seven of their games in the tournament and were proclaimed champions after Oyarzabal scored the game-winning goal following a quick counterattack.
After 67 minutes, Oyarzabal replaced captain Alvaro Morata and declared, “I have done my job.”
“You place a lot of significance on the simple fact that you are in your 26s. Although it happened to me, anyone may have experienced it.”
It took two minutes for Spain to score after the interval, despite losing key midfield player Rodri to injury during a cautious first half in which Spain had 65% of the possession but Phil Foden of England had the sole effort on goal.
England trailed for the fourth time in a row as a teenager named Lamine Yamal found space down the right and crossed for teammate Nico Williams to slot home.
After that, Spain had a purple spell as their prior impenetrable defence crumbled as Dani Olmo, Morata, and Williams all had excellent opportunities.
After an hour, Southgate reacted by substituting an ineffectual Harry Kane with Ollie Watkins, the semi-final hero for scoring goals. Cole Palmer, England’s most inventive player of the previous month, came on for Watkins ten minutes later.
Jude Bellingham’s back-passing of the ball into Palmer’s path in the 73rd minute paid dividends almost immediately as the substitute curled in a precise low 20-meter strike.
The atmosphere of the evening shifted as the throngs of English supporters, who far outnumbered their opponents, burst into a frenzy.
When Marc Cucurella was left in space on the left, he collected the ball from Oyarzabal and hammered it across the box, allowing the substitute to stick out a toe and poke it home. Spain withstood the storm but England’s lack of focus proved costly.
There was still time for further drama on the opposite end when Dani Olmo stopped Marc Guehi’s follow-up on the line and Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon parried a header from Declan Rice from a corner.
Nobody can dispute that Spain, who were only the third team in the last nine European Championships to win the trophy without winning a shootout at some stage in the competition after France (2000) and Greece (2004), deserve to win the championship. They managed to add a fourth title to those they had won in 1964, 2008, and 2012.
Being the first team to lose consecutive Euro finals, England’s “30 years of hurt” following their 1966 World Cup success—a phrase made popular during Euro 1996—will now span at least twice that amount of time.
“It’s the hardest thing to lose in the championship,” captain Kane remarked. “I guess we didn’t quite maintain the same intensity and pressure, but we did a great job getting back into the game.” We were penalized because we were unable to hold the ball.”
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