How England should line up vs Spain in Euro 2024 final: Reward goal hero Ollie Watkins and drop lumbering Harry Kane – but keep faith in match-winner Jude Bellingham | Goal.com UK

Declan Rice has said the image of Italy lifting the European Championship trophy at Wembley will “haunt him forever” but England can write a new chapter of history in Sunday’s final in Berlin and, for once, be the ones hoisting the silverware rather than the ones looking on enviously.

England are up against a Spain side that ruled world football for four magnificent years between 2008 and 2012 but since then had been living off their past achievements. That was until they won the UEFA Nations League last year with a new blueprint, refining the ‘tiki-taca’ style of play that had made them great by adding speed and unpredictability to their toolkit.

Spain have been the best team at the Euros by far while England have often looked stale and rusty. The Three Lions have had to rely on moments of individual brilliance to make it to Berlin, yet their epic comebacks have given them a feeling of invincibility.

Gareth Southgate has made just one tweak per match since the second game against Denmark but he needs to be bolder for the final and make two key changes: starting Luke Shaw and Ollie Watkins, whose 91st-minute goal fired England past the Netherlands and into the final.

That means dropping Harry Kane for the biggest game of his life. It would be a huge call and one Southgate is unlikely to make, but it is England’s only hope of beating a Spain side that have looked better than them in every department at the tournament.

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