Women's EURO 2022: Spain vs Finland match facts, stats, ones to watch

Spain vs Finland: Head-to-head

• Finland have never beaten Spain in their seven previous meetings (D2 L5).
• These sides are facing each other for the first time since being paired together in 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying. Spain won 2-0 in Helsinki in April 2018, Irene Paredes scoring the opener; Tuija Hyyrynen was sent off late on for the hosts. La Roja ran out 5-1 winners in the return fixture in Santander four months later, Linda Sällström having briefly restored parity for the visitors.
• Spain have won their last four games against Finland, scoring 14 goals and conceding just two.
• The only time Finland have avoided defeat in a competitive fixture against Spain came in a 2007 Women's World Cup qualifier, a 0-0 draw in Pozoblanco in May 2006.
• Spain have been victorious in five of the six encounters since the teams' first meeting, a 2-2 friendly draw in Gran Canaria in February 2005.
• Both sides are competing at their fourth EURO and both reached the semi-finals on debut but are yet to return to the last four.
• La Roja have successfully negotiated the group stage in each of their three previous EURO appearances but are yet to win a knockout match in the finals, going out in the quarter-finals in the last two tournaments after reaching the last four in 1997.
• Finland will be hoping to replicate their performance the last time this competition was hosted on English soil, when they were beaten at the semi-final stage by eventual winners Germany in 2005. A last-eight defeat at the hands of England followed four years later, before they finished bottom of their group on their last appearance in 2013.
• Spain topped Group D in qualifying for this tournament, scoring 48 goals – level with Denmark and the Netherlands as the joint highest total overall – and conceding just once. The 0-0 draw against Poland in Lublin in November 2019 was the only time Jorge Vilda's side dropped points in their eight-game campaign.
• Finland won seven of their eight qualifying fixtures as they clinched top spot in Group E. The 1-1 draw away to Portugal in November 2019, in which Sällström's 90th-minute equaliser rescued a point, was the only game in which they failed to pick up three points.

Ones to watch: Spain

Spain's Aitana BonmatíAFP via Getty Images

Aitana Bonmatí

• The 24-year-old scored six times in qualifying, behind only Jenni Hermoso (ten goals) and Esther González (eight) in the Spain rankings.
• Bonmatí was one of four Spain players to feature in all eight EURO 2022 qualifiers, along with Mariona Caldentey, Patricia Guijarro and Alexia Putellas.
• The midfielder's first senior international goal came in England, a 2-1 friendly defeat against the home side in Swindon in April 2019.
• The Barcelona player scored a career-best 18 club goals in 2021/22, including a hat-trick in a 6-1 victory at Rayo Vallecano on 8 May.

Irene Paredes

• The Spain captain has scored three international goals against Finland, including two in the 5-0 victory in qualifying for EURO 2017.
• The defender jointly holds the Spanish record for most EURO finals starts with eight, level with Silvia Meseguer and Marta Torrejón.
• Paredes made her international debut in a 4-0 EURO 2013 qualifying win away to Romania in November 2011.
• The centre-back claimed the league and cup double in her first season with Barcelona in 2021/22 having joined the Blaugranes after five years at Paris Saint-Germain.

Amaiur Sarriegi

• The 21-year-old was called up to the La Roja squad on 6 July as a replacement for the injured Alexia Putellas.
• The forward is Spain's leading scorer in the 2023 World Cup qualification campaign with 11 goals.
• Sarriegi struck in six successive international appearances between 16 September and 30 November, hitting 12 goals in that run.
• The Real Sociedad attacker scored four goals on her first Spain start, the 10-0 World Cup qualifying win away to the Faroe Islands on 16 September.

Ones to watch: Finland

Finland's Sanni FranssiUEFA via Getty Images

Sanni Franssi

• The 27-year-old scored ten league goals for Real Sociedad in 2021/22 as they secured second place in the Primera División and UEFA Women's Champions League qualification for the first time.
• The forward is a club-mate of Spain pair Amaiur Sarriegi and Nerea Eizagirre, and scored past La Roja goalkeepers Sandra Paños and Misa Rodríguez in the league this season.
• Franssi moved to Spain in 2020 following a two-year spell with Denmark's Fortuna Hjørring, where she won a league title and the Danish Women's Cup.
• The attacker featured in all eight of Finland's EURO 2022 qualifiers, scoring her only goal in the home win against Albania in October 2019.

Linda Sällström

• The 33-year-old appeared in all of Finland's four matches as they reached the EURO 2009 quarter-finals, scoring in the last-eight defeat by England in Turku.
• The striker missed out on the EURO 2013 squad due to a serious knee injury.
• Sällström scored ten goals in the EURO 2022 qualification campaign, only Belgium's Tine De Caigny (12) managing more.
• The forward is Finland's all-time leading scorer with 50 goals, having overtaken Laura Österberg Kalmari's tally of 41 with four against Albania in qualifying for this tournament in October 2019.

Anna Westerlund

• The 33-year-old played every minute of Finland's 2013 EURO finals campaign having featured in three of their four matches as they reached the last eight in 2009.
• Westerlund was one of three Finnish players to be ever-present in their EURO 2022 qualification campaign, along with Tinja-Riikka Korpela and Natalia Kuikka.
• The defender became Finland's leading appearance maker in April 2021, winning her 131st cap in the friendly draw with Austria; she is now on 137.
• The centre-back made her Finland debut back in January 2008 in a 2-0 defeat against China in Guangzhou.