Spain are ‘REALLY DESERVING’ to be EURO 2024 Champions – Luis Garcia | ESPN FC

Spain are ‘REALLY DESERVING’ to be EURO 2024 Champions – Luis Garcia | ESPN FC

[Music] there’s a party in Madrid and everyone is invited fantastic scenes in the Spanish Capital as Spain celebrate their fourth European Championship after that 2-1 Victory against England in Berlin hello and welcome to the latest edition of ESPN FC as we continue to look back at what happened yesterday in that final with Spain of course Victorious by two goals to one later on in the show as well we’ll be looking back at the Copper America final The Good the Bad and the Ugly from that eye but first let’s kick things off I just remind you what happened yesterday it’ be Nico Williams of course who would open the scoring for Spain to make it one0 after a turit first half England would get the equalizer as substitute K pal would score from outside the box but the arasar would be the hero for Spain his winner we give Spain the trophy and boy have we got a panel to discuss that final in some more detail let’s see if I can get this right we’ve got Mario malot with us Stuart robson’s with us Luis Garcia is with us and Alex Kirkland as well Luis I feel like I should start with you first thoroughly deserving of the victory Spain they were brilliant throughout the tournament and it would have been daylight robbery wouldn’t it if they lost against England in the final yeah exactly good to see you guys and what a amazing performance once again we’ve been talking all a lot about it’s Spain during the tournament and I think that we can all agree that this is really a deserved trophy he’s been the team that the more enjoyable football was doing more attacking football more consistent scoring more goals H rotating at the better times and in the end it was really really H it could have been a very sad history to to see this Spanish team young Spanish team we have to call it this way H not lifting the trophy I think they deserve overall because they’ve been the best team uh this man de laund deserved so much credit I think he managed to put a a great Squad a squad he knew from the very beginning he was going to deliver H speed possession aggressiveness everything to try to win this trophy no one was expecting Spain to be in that final but in the end I think that really deserved because of that man de la fend make a fantastic family as he likes to call it and of course in the end lifting that trophy that it wasn’t easy at all but really really the sa at the end of the of the road Alex incredible scenes the number of people have turned out to celebrate Spain winning not only through the day of course but then everybody gathering for this concert where the players just seem to completely let themselves go [Music] who would have seen that coming Rober uh Lis is absolutely right as need to give DEA fend all the credit that he has given way that Spain transfered from that boring predictable side in the world cup to what we saw in this tournament well they added Pace as L said they’ve had Pace in the wide areas they got a Midfield three that were willing to run with the ball and play it into the front player a front player was going to have on to it and make runs in behind but they also kept the ball when they needed to their decision making over the course of the tournament was superb in the first half against England when England said we’re going to put foden against rodri we’re going to allow the center halves to have the ball they compo they were composed they played the right sort of passes they got down the wide air the crosses weren’t quite good enough but when they needed to play longer in the second half where England pressed they did that well as well all around Spain were excellent throughout the tournament and I thought they were excellent again last night Mario it’s good for football isn’t it that this start of football was the one that won it yeah know definitely because you you know what the the interesting part is that in England most of the guys that we we talk about where the you know the Spanish national team played against were players that are used to the way Spain played against them but they had no answer because you know when they kicked off the when the game started they went long straight away and the Spanish goes the opposite and go like no we’re going to keep the ball so you could see the difference really introduced really quick in the style of playing and Spain at a great tournament you know you cannot take anything but when pford is one of your best men in your team you know as a team you’re having a hard time yeah right then you and as they were you no but I was on the couch with a big smile on my face I bet you were I bet you were list it’s absolutely absolutely is the is the right result for the game and yeah you know you think over the years all the different styles of play and and team that are successful get copied well let’s hope everybody copies what Spain we’re doing you know because particularly in today’s game too many times do we see possession being actually what it’s all about it’s it’s n910 to the law it seems like for most coaches but not for this guy he and who is he by the way everybody’s clambering about signing signing a star name this guy’s come from nowhere I had I even heard this guy’s name up until about eight nine months ago but let’s hope that teams around the world start playing the way spend do yes they keep possession but yes the goal is to actually go forward so when the ball’s on to go forward they play it forward and as I said they don’t just keep the ball for for the sake of keeping it they’re actually there’s a goal in mind which actually is a goal indeed it is lovely well put Steph thank you uh Lis how cool is it as well that you look at the stars of this team obviously rodri was given player of the tournament but really it was Nico Williams and Lam yamal that everyone has been been talking about yes of course when you analyze the team you’re going to find special players in every single position because in the beginning of the tourn of course Ura was amazing Fabian R has been a fantastic partnership but these two kids have been really really incredible I mean he’s he was but now we can call the finally that he’s 17 years old and it’s been a joy to watch he’s a determination to go forward to be players on 1 V one scoring goal assisting taking the right decision St just mentioned he’s taking the right decision every single time when he has to pass when he has to be players when he has to shoot or try to H try to give the the pass he’s so young but he show a very mature style of play and in the other side you go Nico Williams that we’ve been talking and we following in atletic L for quite a long time we knew that we had a gem over there but this explosion at the national team is had to be on the on the best standards because he’s got everything that speed that power that boldness they are young so they are not afraid to anything that that they got in front of them they arrive to the semifinal playing against France without no doubts no no no being scared about anything and in the final everybody was talking now they’re gonna play against Luke Shaw and they go walk and in the end they doesn’t matter they only think about one thing that is scoring goals and that transition that Spain has done in the past few months we cannot say even years he been really really remarkable and again I would like to say that we have to give credit to DEA who saw in these players have fantastic potential and they played Without Fear Robo which obviously something we’ll get to a little later on is exactly the opposite to How England played well you can you can get only get so far with passing the ball and defenses are set up to stop you passing the ball and coope with with passing football but what you can’t deal with is players going past other players in One V one situations and that’s what Nico Williams did one side and yal did down the other side and that causes defense problems now they’re worried now Defenders have to come across and it changes the whole game and as you said they played Without feel they’re two outstanding players both got great Pace both got the ability to go past people and they were allowed to do so unlike we would say the England team and how they were set up Luis obviously we saw you in the Euros back in 2008 and the World Cup 2010 2012 uh do you think this is start of a new Legacy for Spain do they go for example into the World Cup in America as favorites I have no doubt that there going to be a lot of talks about being favorite and I have to say that yes they are going to be favorites I mean the way that the football that they show is is giving you the the opportunity to be a favorite he giving you the the option to be a team to be making Afra to the rest of the of the opponents but it’s not only that let’s don’t forget that there is a few players and we’ve been talking a lot about paku that they are at the Olympics they went there Gabby is going to get back p is goingon to get back they’re going to be even more players that they’re going to be ready in in two years time to be joining this team so of course I think the way that we’ve seen this Spain performing I’m sure that he going to be one of the favorites for to win the World Cup in 2026 well let’s take talk about the favorites at the start of the tournament shall we to win the Euros that was of course England uh they made it to the final they limped their way to the final however you want to sell it overall it was a disappointing performance from such a talented group of players a lot of question marks about what they do do going forward but first let’s just start with a simple question Stevie how much blame should Gareth Southgate take for coming home without a trophy again I think it has to be 50/50 on the players and on the coach you know at the end of the day the coach’s job is to put the team on the field in such a manner that it’s going to Jael it’s going to work and you’re going to get the best out of the team and you’re going to get results which I guess you can’t argue they someone got results but you get a performance and South Gate hasn’t been able to do that I mean I mean that on paper that isn’t bad well it’s the best ever isn’t it but let’s be honest I can’t remember one game that was any particular that I enjoyed throughout all of that in 2018 and and to have so many talented players and not be able to put the pieces together in the way that makes it work has to go down to the the the coach so half it the players they’ve got to perform but half of it is the manager that’s his job his job is to put them on the field and make them jail in a certain way and he hasn’t been a to do that since 2018 robau in previous tournaments uh England have played okay and it’s been big moments where he hasn’t got his tactics right when Croatia started to get more space down the right hand side and kept on getting crosses into the box he didn’t make the changes when Italy started to dominate in the Euros uh three years ago he didn’t make changes on this occasion he couldn’t get it right from the start and he couldn’t get the fluency he couldn’t get the balls into the striker with any sort of quality the striker looked as though he couldn’t move and they were still playing long balls up to him there was no support to him so he looked in my view uh tactically inep throughout the tournament England were the were one of the worst teams to watch every time you turned on the Telly and watched their games you were bored by their style of football you were bored by why can’t they play the next forward pass when they had time to run with the ball they went backwards when went into the center forward there wasn’t enough support it was a poor poor display by England and they didn’t really have to play anybody to get through to that final I would say they they were I thought outplayed by Switzerland and were lucky to get throw on penalties but shouldn’t the players take responsibility for that as well Robo yes of course they should you know there was some I thought some poor performances by several of players you know and I’m going to go for Jude Bellingham in some ways he did some some wonderful things but after Christmas at Real Madrid I think we’ve seen a slump in his form his attitude his lack of Mobility I would say at times when he goes down he stays on the floor for 3 seconds before and and by that time the other team 20 yards 30 yards away from him Harry Kane if he’s not fit and he had an injury then he shouldn’t be playing because he gave England nothing in terms of a holdup play running in behind and if you’re going to go from pford to the front player Harry Kane you’ve got a major problem because he didn’t win one ball in the very first game against Serbia minkovich and him had a challenge about 20 times and 19 of them milenovic won and that summed up Harry kan’s tournament uh is this criticism Fair Mario it it’s an interesting situation why because you know there was so much expectation for the England side right because when the tournament started we were all watching it because we all know you know that there enough stars that team was full of stars but the things what they couldn’t do is that what what Stevie highlighted Robert said it too he it’s like you have to eliminate players if you want to create football is played with 11 V 11 and the objective of every team is to make sure that you eliminate a player that you end up with three against four or you know always one man less and that’s how you play the game I mean that’s how I mean I’m sure LS that is what he went through as a young boy that’s how I was built when I played at ax that is our goal and that is exactly what we expected a foden or you know a Saka to do for England is what yamal and Williams did every time time they have the ball they were dangerous in England every time you had the ball sometimes you go back and that similarities is what we have as well as a national team of Holland it’s like you you want to make sure that you either take a player on dribble by him or take him on with speed and if you don’t have that it becomes a really difficult situation because if your Winger cannot beat you on the inside or on the outside because the outside is the hardest way and if you cannot beat a player on the outside you always turn back and play the ball back and it slows the game down and you will have a problem and that’s exactly what happened to England it took too long for them to be dangerous L is what’s interesting I think at the start of the tournament you’d agree if you take a look at England’s best starting 11 against Spain starting 11 England had the better players but none of them sha compared to the Spanish team who stepped up the english team regressed yeah totally paper he looked like one of the favorites I think we all agreed that England with Germany with France maybe with I was going to look up another one but maybe those were the the big favorites and then there were another group of of of teams Spain was involved in that one who were who run as second favorites but what I’m surprised is that when England needed to score a goal when needed to go forward they did actually a very good job and against Spain it happened and it happened before against the Netherlands when they they needed to go forward they did it and they do it in numbers they commit players forward even with the changes they were aggressive they Tred to regain the ball in the loster but only when it was needed and my question is why don’t doing that from the first minute of the first game I mean everyone knows that you are a very very good team that you got so much staling up front you get players in the from the last thir from the Midfield to the last thir that they are very dangerous because they they’ve been proving the best leags why not bringing that intensity from the first first minute everyone is going to be afraid of you and if you need to change players you got a bench full of of talent full of top players I mean we’ve seen both Co can do to the team Walkins can do to the team but in the end they were arriving almost when the team was just most needed and of course they managed to get the results my question is why not doing that from the first minute why don’t see the best of England and see what happen if the group T the first game doesn’t go well you got the second and the third why not try and be aggressive be intense and and bring the energy from the first minute of the first game and then prove to everyone that England is there to win it everything just Scrappy waiting holding at the back organized to try to see if the players at front can manage to do something that’s my doubt I don’t know why a team with this potential couldn’t manage to get better results that’s that’s 100% down to the coach because that’s the culture that’s been England’s culture since 2018 right not give anything away and if we do lose something then we have to go and get it and then once we actually regain it it then we go back to the norm that’s a culture you know we talk about Club teams having a culture well this England set up under South Gate has a culture of not taking any chances not taking the Bow by the horn and going winning the game and trying out playing the opposition it’s about not making too many mistakes we’ll do this we’ve got some good players we’ll we’ll get enough chances and we’ll be safe and that 100% is the culture that Southgate has with England it’s always be safe until you’ve no choice uh it’s it’s in his hands Robo the fa have let him decide whether or not he stays or indeed he goes so we can discuss that whether that’s the right decision or not but if he does go Graham Potter has been reported as the favorite does that make sense to you well that’s the worry that England have got and uh and the fans I don’t think will be particularly pleased with gr Potter England haven’t really the fa haven’t really built a successor you know they’ve eight eight years of G Southgate they should in that time have looked at other coaches developed other coaches like Spain have done with because they do it from within their FA like Dente has done you know he’s been an under 21 coach an under 19 coach they did it with ly I know then he fell out with them but that’s what Englander should have been doing over the last six or seven years but the fa haven’t developed good enough England coaches and gr Potter had to go abroad to start become to become a good coach to start with and they’re talking about Eddie how as well I’m not sure they’re the inspirational coaches that England need uh what they what they what Gareth Southgate needed behind him because I don’t think he’s a bad manager he’s not a very good coach he needed somebody behind him that was a top class coach England aren’t producing those coaches unfortunately uh G Southgate has been criticized and it’s interesting a report in the athletic uh that came out today Stevie talking about Jude Bellingham and talking about a couple of things that he did before the tournament he was part of the Adidas promotion where don’t worry judee’s here to save the day basically I’m going to lead the Three Lions to Victory apparently that upset some of the squad of course where South Gates just talked about the collective as opposed to individuals he then came out and gave the press conference he said the press it was a pile on basically and and again people felt that wasn’t the ethos that England have kind of started under Southgate and he was then promoted into this leaders leadership team and they don’t feel that he fulfilled that role particularly well there was the argument with Southgate yesterday what do you make of that absolute garbage really that’s not not why they were rubbish that’s not why they were crap on the field did you see them all after they scored did you see them all after Jude Bellingham scored that goal there wasn’t there wasn’t one of them that wasn’t all over him try to kiss kiss his face so I mean all of these things it’s amazing how all of these things appear when when the narrative is is about getting rid of the coach or they didn’t win the final or I mean absolute garbage honestly are you telling me today you know pre in previous years in robber’s year and and in my era that sort of thing was possible because of the money that was involved money’s always been the problem that him doing an advert and Jude coming he said so what he scored a thousand goals for Real Madrid he’s in he’s in contention for the balandor I mean everybody will be delighted that he’s on their team I I don’t go with this nonsense right they were garbage on the field because as a group of players they didn’t produce and they had a manage who didn’t have the wherewithal to make them produce that’s why they got they were lucky they got to the final this nonsense about they weren’t happy with his adverts and all this other stuff absolute garbage if you want to go and blame that then on you go but that isn’t the problem nonsense Mario yeah I don’t agree with that too I’m I’m with Stevie because I feel like look don’t take the shine away from the kid you know and don’t make him that it’s only him that that because now it’s kind of like we all focusing on one individual and I don’t like that so much I think you know as a team you didn’t perform the way you expect them to perform and of course if you asked Jude did you wanted a better tournament he would have said to you yes straight away he would have been saying like yes I would have loved to have a better tournament but as as an individual he worked you understand regardless of what did he didn’t produce the talent that we expect him to do he still worked his is I don’t want to say the other word but he worked hard enough to get where he wanted to be but yes if you’re didn’t going to focus on the Comm commercial ofas come on guys there been guys in front of us they made so many commercials they even they made so many that later on we took the profit of it because if you call a name for example Beckham how many commercial did he do did we ever you know had to jump on that no because what Beckham was really good at he balance it out if Jude balances out next season when Real Madrid starts again and he shows you he performs again people will not even talk about it because they have no right to talk about great talents we have to idolize them and don’t try to kick them away because they should be on the field for us Robo I I agree with both what the guys have said you know it’s not Jude bellingham’s fault that he’s done an advert and that’s not caused England the problems they’ve got I would say that I’m just a little bit worried about Jude bellingham’s attitude since Christmas because when he was when he first went to Real Madrid and was scoring all the goals he looked happy he looked as though he was enjoying football the last half of the Season he looked as though he was grumpy he was arguing with everybody wanted to argue with the referee the opposition and he’s done a bit of that during the tournament let’s hope he gets back at the start of the season with Real Madrid to The Smiling player the player that was really athletic scoring loads of goals and being one of the top players in the world let’s hope he gets back to that robo’s not wrong is he Luis obviously we watch La Liga every day watch every Real Madrid game last season there was a trend where he seemed to be getting angrier yes of course let’s guys let’s don’t forget we are talking about even that he shows a very mature and he shows knows every single weekend that is’s he understood and what he means we’re in the jersey of Real Madrid he’s 20 years old he he passed from being a star or a shining star at do moon to become a global star a a player who is looked everywhere in the world to be have all the lights on him to become probably the Balon door or one of the Balon doors in just one year guys and he’s only 20 years old and he’s not used to have this uh down moments these low moments because he’s been always since the moment he left England to arrive to the Bundesliga has a step forward and the from the Bundesliga another step forward to arrive to Real Madrid and there is no nothing else above of Real Madrid there is nothing else so he never had one of those lows and right now he’s feeling that he finished the season very tired you could see that in the last games of the Season that he wasn’t as sharp as in the beginning of the season and when you start the the Euros it looks exactly the same he was tired he wasn’t arriving at the same time at the same Pace in the same spaces that he normally does for for Spain so now of course to manage those kind of emotion kind those situation is not easy he will learn from this process and I’m sure the next year we even see a better a better you Bellingham so let’s try not to crucify a player just because he’s had a tough moment because I’m sure if with 20 years old if we go back everyone will have behav the same way Juke Bingham of course the second most famous Englishman in Madrid let’s go to the first shall we as Alex I think our connection is back with you I started off the show and let’s go back to it because these scenes have been brilliant haven’t they Madrid over the last few hours and the celebrations the Pinnacle of which has been the stage show hello Dan yes I can hear you this time which is a relief I have to say it turns out when you pack hundreds of thousands of people into selles the Signal’s not that great so we’ve moved just down the road um but yeah it has been quite a party here in Madrid today it’s been a real kind of explosion of of Joy I think a big part of that is sort of how unexpected this was you know going into this tournament nobody here expected to be celebrating today Spain having won the Euros nobody did the next sort of big party here in Madrid was supposed to be the presentation of mbappe at the burnner bay tomorrow but here we are a day early of course when the tournament got underway you know people started to think oh hang on a second this we’re the best team in this tourn we could actually do something here but still I think a lot of people here thought no look we’ll come up against you know a Germany or at France or in England and will come unstuck and it never happened and everyone’s just been so delighted with the the way the team have played so many players who sort of become stars during this tournament internationally that we knew about here already of course and there’s the feeling that this might be the start of something this team has maybe you know this team has sort of exploded to life a little bit early that you got a lot of youngsters here with huge potential and yeah people are very very excited about about what this means for the the next few years of the Spain Men’s National Team because after a real Barren spell for the for the men’s team since 2012 they’re back on top now I love that it’s a baron spell since 2012 as we’re still banging on about 1966 overall Alex what’s great and we mentioned it before that you’re two kind of stars of this team ano Williams and laminar yeah it’s really special and and it’s they are sort of a symbol of of a new Spain of of a changing Spain and they are like they are heroes now here at Z as I arrived here um I could hear songs singing Nico Williams’s name later on they were singing Lin M’s name and of course we’re here in Madrid Lin M of course is a Barcelona player know not not naturally super popular here in in Madrid but there’s no doubt that Spain fans absolutely love him Nico Williams as well it just doesn’t get any better than two young exciting talented charismatic players doing the business on the biggest stage possible and yeah it’s players like that like I say give people here so much hope that this isn’t sort of the the end point that this is just the the start of something because they are two players there’s no reason why those two shouldn’t get better and better final question Alex Before I Let You Go what’s it like being an Englishman over the last 48 hours in Spain it was a weird one watching the game I have to say it was a strange feeling because of course I wanted England to win I’m English but also I’ve lived here for for 12 years now my family are Spanish colleagues friends are Spanish and I cover Spain and Spanish football so I’ve got a lot of affection for the Spanish national team as well so it felt a bit like I couldn’t lose either way it was still a little bit of spiriting when England lost I have to say cuz you know we’ve seen Spain win stuff in the recent past I could have done with seeing England win something for once uh but it wasn’t to be but everyone’s been very nice no one here has spotted that I’m English yet I think they can see the ESPN Mike flag but they might think I’m I’m from the states or something I don’t know if they don’t spot the uh the accent so now everyone’s been very nice to me so far happy they won Mario I wore a Holland shirt in 2010 don’t you worry about that when they played Spain and I was living in Madrid

The ESPN FC panel of Mario Melchiot, Luis Garcia, Stewart Robson and Alex Kirkland give their reactions to Spain winning the UEFA EURO 2024 with a 2-1 victory over England.

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