Roy Keane perfectly explains why England didn’t win the Euro 2024 final against Spain

Roy Keane has identified a lack of quality as the reason for England’s failure to win Euro 2024 after the team’s defeat to Spain in Sunday’s final.

Despite criticism for not performing at their best throughout the tournament, Gareth Southgate’s men reached the final, only to be beaten 2-1 by Spain thanks to a decisive Mikel Oyarzabal strike. Following England’s second consecutive Euro finals defeat, Keane, who was analyzing the game for ITV, did not mince words when assessing why the Three Lions fell short against Luis de la Fuente’s side.

“The best team won tonight and the best team won the tournament. They’ve got a great mix, they’ve got pace, they’ve got youth, they’ve got experience. They’ve got talent and they’ve worked their socks off.”

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Of England, he added: “What they lacked tonight is quality. They lacked quality maybe throughout the tournament, probably that fight and desire, the options on the bench that got them to the final. But when you look at it and again, I’ve always said that top level sport is brutal, it really is.

“We (as ex-footballers) lost big games. Sometimes the opposition is better than you. Spain were excellent. We talk about options on the bench, those guys did well. They deserved it. To win seven games. in -one line, this is amazing.

“Again, in sports, you have to step back and be humble. It’s great to win, but also to say, ‘Listen, we got beat by the better team,’ take your meds and regroup and go again.”

Spain took the lead in the 47th minute before Cole Palmer restored parity for England to give them hope in the dying minutes of the match. But former England defender Gary Neville pointed out that Spain could have been home and dry long before they had it not been for a string of fine saves from Jordan Pickford.

Neville said: “They had a lot of chances. They could have won the game; we got back into it but it could have been 2-0 before that. I have to say not controlling the biggest games was a problem for England teams in many, many tournaments Having to play from behind the ball and move the whole team up the field is very difficult.

“You can win the odd game doing that, you can win two or three games, but eventually you’re going to run into a team that just has too much quality and that’s what we found here tonight.”