EURO 2024 Final: If Spain and England have to play penalties, who has the advantage?

It is not impossible that the EURO 2024 final will have to be decided by a penalty shootout. Since Southgate took over the England team, the team has been playing better on penalties than before.

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The finals of the two most recent major tournaments (World Cup, EURO) all had to be decided by penalty shootouts. At EURO 2020, Italy beat England after this shootout. At the 2022 World Cup, Argentina beat France after a penalty shootout. Therefore, it is not impossible that the EURO 2024 final will go to a penalty shootout, especially in the context of European teams playing increasingly tight and cautiously. The English team is one of the biggest teams in the history of world football that is the worst at penalty shootouts. Normally, many years ago, when opponents forced the English team into this nerve-wracking shootout, the "Three Lions" would almost certainly lose.

England have never been favourites in penalty shootouts in the past.

REUTERS

However, the England team under coach Gareth Southgate has significantly changed this ability. It is true that England lost to Italy in the EURO 2020 final after a penalty shootout, but in some tournaments before and after, counting from the 2018 World Cup (the first major tournament coach Southgate led the foggy country team), England won. Specifically, the England team beat Colombia 4-3 in a penalty shootout in the round of 16 of the 2018 World Cup (after the two sides drew 1-1 in regular time and extra time). At EURO 2024 this time, on the way to the final, the England team beat Switzerland 5-3 in the quarter-finals, after a penalty shootout (the two teams drew 1-1 after 120 minutes of play of 2 regular times and 2 extra times). What is noteworthy in that match is that for the first time in history, the England team scored all 5 of their penalty kicks. In total, under coach Gareth Southgate, the England team went through 3 penalty shootouts: won 2, lost 1, with a success rate of nearly 67%.

England just beat Switzerland in the quarter-finals on penalties

REUTERS

During the same period, Spain played 4 matches with penalty kicks: lost 3, won only 1, with a success rate of only 25%. Spain lost 3-4 to Russia in the round of 16 at the 2018 World Cup (1-1 draw after 120 minutes). At EURO 2020, Spain beat Switzerland 3-1 in the quarter-finals (1-1 draw after 120 minutes), but then lost 2-4 to Italy in the semi-finals (1-1 draw after 120 minutes). At the 2022 World Cup, Spain lost 0-3 to Morocco in the round of 16 (0-0 draw after 120 minutes). This means that the penalty kicking ability of Spanish players in recent years is not better than that of English players. Spain is the big team that is most likely to lose in a penalty shootout, not England like in the past.

The Spanish team did not do very well in the penalty shootout.

REUTERS

Commenting on England's improved penalty shootout performance at EURO 2024, coach Gareth Southgate said: "We want to change our image. England do not want to see the haunting of EURO 2020 reappear (that year, they were very poor in the penalty shootout against Italy in the final). We assign different names in the penalty shootout and everyone is ready."

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