UEFA Women's EURO 2025 analysis: England's final comeback vs Spain explained

"This team step up all the time and never give up," said coach Sarina Wiegman after her England side came from behind for the third successive match to win Sunday's UEFA Women's EURO 2025 final against Spain.

As against Sweden in their quarter-final and Italy in their semi-final, England showed exceptional resilience and mental strength as they cancelled out Spain's first-half lead before prevailing on penalties to retain their crown.

In the following analysis, UEFA's Technical Observer Group highlight how Spain took control in the first half and, crucially, examine the details of England's second-half recovery – notably their improved pressing – which had its reward with Alessia Russo's equalising goal.

Spain's early supremacy

To begin with Spain, this video features a passage of comfortable possession from the world champions in the first period – much of which England spent in a low block.

We see England drop into a 4-4-2 shape with Spain's movement causing them problems through scorer Mariona Caldentey coming inside. By drawing Lucy Bronze with her, Mariona created space on the left-hand side for Spain and in this clip, Olga Carmona profits by stepping into the space and crossing for Esther González's early shooting chance.

Explaining England's difficulties, UEFA Technical Observer Tanya Oxtoby said: "Keira Walsh was trying to go with Alexia Putellas and then Lucy Bronze was having to deal with Caldentey who was inside, and then Spain were getting the overload out on the left with Lauren Hemp not quite sure where to go."

On the plus side, England did well to get bodies back into their box. Yet with their front players pulled back, they struggled to get hold of the ball. "Spain counter-pressed a lot so England were for long spells in their own half defending," said UEFA Technical Observer Ioan Lupescu.

'Put them under pressure'

"We wanted to put them under pressure a little more in their half of the pitch," said Wiegman of England's approach after the break, and the first clip of this second video shows some well-synchronised pressing from Hemp and Bronze on the right.

With Bronze stepping up to press Carmona, Hemp is able to put pressure on Laia Aleixandri, the left-sided centre-back. "You just see Hemp's looked over her shoulder and Bronze says 'Go, go, go' so it's a structured pressing move," explained Oxtoby.

Clip two shows Hemp applying pressure again; note how she presses from 'outside to in', blocking the passing lane to the full-back and in this way allowing her team-mates more time to get into position to press as well.

As Oxtoby added: "They were forcing them inside which meant having to take another pass for Spain, and this meant England could then be more aggressive. They made it more difficult for Spain to play in the half-spaces."

The data shows that England achieved considerably more regains in opposition territory in the second half. In the opening period, they made eight of their 22 ball recoveries (a 36% share) in Spain's half; in the second period, it was 14 of 24 (a 58% share).

On this change in the game, Spain coach Montse Tomé reflected: "In the second half, there were moments when we had our lines stretched a bit more defensively and we didn't have the same ball circulation which would have helped us defend more."

England's midfield influence grows

Thanks to England being more aggressive and winning the ball more regularly, their box midfield had a bigger impact in the second period.

As displayed in this video of England's equaliser, Bronze joined Walsh at the base of the box with Georgia Stanway and Ella Toone occupying higher spaces ahead of them. UEFA Technical Observer Britta Carlsson explained: "England wanted to draw out the Spain midfield players. Spain put pressure on Bronze and Walsh but the England forwards were higher and they could play balls over the midfield to them."

There was a particular problem for Patri Guijarro, who found herself caught between Stanway and Toone, according to UEFA Technical Observer Lluis Cortés. "Aitana [Bonmatí] and Alexia were with Walsh and Bronze, so Patri always had two players in the pocket to defend," he said.

This is illustrated in the clip as we see Stanway with the space to carry the ball forward and feed Chloe Kelly, whose inswinging cross brings Russo's goal.

Summing up England’s improvement, Wiegman said: "In the first half, we had moments when we won the ball and lost it too quickly.

"In the second half we wanted to put the centre-forward higher to stay a little bit there so that if we won it, we could play and keep it so the team had time to spread out and play football. Then we created some moments in the game because they were running after us rather than the other way round."

Coaching considerations: What it takes to reach this stage

What does it take to attain the levels seen in Sunday's England-Spain showpiece? Here, Lluis Cortés, UEFA Technical Observer, highlights two key requirements that aspiring young female footballers now need in addition to the technical fundamentals.

"Fitness is important. You've seen every day at this EURO that the fitness level of the players is better and better. There have been long games with extra time and there are a lot of high-intensity actions that a player has to be ready for.

"Another key factor is tactical awareness. We've not seen big mistakes from the players in terms of skills – there were few goals, for example, that were gifts from the defenders or the goalkeepers – so I think in terms of technical skills, we've improved a lot.

"We now need players who are able to read the game and to adapt to the different situations that can come up during a match because, as seen in this tournament, teams are able to change things. Therefore, we need players with good game understanding and the ability to respond to changes."