Luis de la Fuente’s Spain side head to Germany in search of their first European Championship trophy since their back-to-back victories in 2008 and 2012.
The Spaniards had a strong Euro 2024 qualifying campaign, in which they scored 25 goals across 8 matches, conceding 5 in this time and only suffering a single defeat, a 2-0 loss to Scotland at Hampden Park.
Since their final qualifying fixture, they have also had a good run of form in international friendlies, drawing with Brazil and putting 5 goals past both Northern Ireland and Andorra. A momentum that Spain will look to continue, the number of goals scored both in and since qualifying is certainly an indicator of how threatening the Spanish attack can be in the upcoming tournament.
In their Euro 2020 campaign, played out in 2021, they made it as far as the semi-finals, in which they came back from a goal down to take Italy to penalties. Italy, however, triumphed from the spot on the night, beating Spain 4-2 on penalties to take them to the final, which they then went on to win through another shootout at Wembley.
A tough group for Spain sees them face Italy on Matchday 2, as well as Croatia and Albania on either side of this fixture.
Croatia have proven themselves a tough opponent in the past on the international stage, finishing third in the 2022 Fifa World Cup, ahead of Spain who bowed out in the Round of 16.
When it comes to the Euros, however, they have not had such success, having been knocked out in the Round of 16 in their last 2 European tournaments, most recently by Spain in the 2020 campaign.
Albania have qualified for the Euros for just the second time in their history, having featured for the first time in 2016, but failing to make it to the knockout stages.
Spain, on the other hand, haven’t failed to get out of the group stage since 2004, and have named a youthful yet strong squad ahead of their campaign in Germany.
Their finalised 26-man squad, however, is missing some of the country's biggest names, including Barcelona's Gavi and Alejandro Balde and PSG’s Marco Asensio.
An exciting talent for Spain, Lamine Yamal, at just 16 years old, is the youngest player announced in any squad this summer, and if he makes an appearance he will make history as the youngest player to feature in the tournament. The Barcelona youngster will take the record from Kacper Kozlowski, the Pole who made his Euro debut aged 17 years and 246 days in the last campaign.
De la Fuente’s side is set to get their campaign underway on Saturday (June 15th) and will be turning towards the strength of their squad and qualifying momentum to prove why they are one of the favourites in such a highly contested tournament.
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