England expects. Spain excite. Scotland, if the European Championships final goes with the formbook, will exhale.
It’s fair to assume that the vast majority of Scots would rather not be subjected to what would be unleashed in the English media in the event of a victory for The Three Lions in tonight’s Euros finale in Berlin, but in fairness, they may also recognise something of themselves – however grudgingly - in Gareth Southgate and his team.
Here is a manager and a group of players who have been battered from pillar to post throughout this tournament. They have rarely played the sort of attractive football we know them to be capable of simply by the individual talent they have at their disposal.
And yet, through an indomitable team spirit, and it has to be said, a fair old slice of luck along the way, they stand on the precipice of history, nonetheless. They are the underdog, yes, but it could even be said that this England team would be the most fitting winners of this Euros, a tournament that has largely been a triumph of function over flair.
The robotic, repetitious – and largely bland - football of the coaching manuals has been prevalent just about everywhere you look, and no one has adhered so rigidly to the dogma of positional discipline more than Southgate’s England. All except Harry Kane, of course, who could probably do with staying up top where he is meant to be a whole lot more often.
The promise of a tournament dominated by the brilliance of Jude Bellingham that we had a tantalising glimpse of in those first breathless minutes against Serbia is but a distant memory now, and never really threatened to come to pass. As they have done habitually, as soon as England scored in their opening match, they retreated.
Bellingham’s struggle to impart influence on proceedings, despite his last-gasp overhead stunner that kept his country in Germany by the skin of their teeth against Slovakia, has been one shared right across England’s attacking division.
Phil Foden has flitted in and out from the left wing. Bukayo Saka has done largely the same from the right, and has even found himself at full back on occasion. Cole Palmer has had to settle for the odd late cameo from the bench, along with the likes of Ivan Toney and Ollie Watkins.
It could be argued, indeed, that the best thing for the final would be an early Spain goal, as England have tended to respond and play their best stuff when they go behind. They found a quickfire response against Switzerland, for example, and played their best football of the entire tournament in the 40-odd minutes between Xavi Simons’ early opener for The Netherlands and the half-time whistle of their semi-final victory.
Spain, on the other hand, have largely been the one reliable source of consistent quality throughout these past few weeks. If England are the winners the fare offered up by this Euros deserves, then Spain are the champions the fans deserve for sticking it out. The outlying entertainers in a sea of banality.
They arrived unheralded in Germany, with few expecting them to go all the way. Now, after the thrilling football they have produced throughout, it would be a shock if they don’t go on and lift the Henri Delauny Trophy for a record fourth time.
In search of whatever cold comfort they can find after their own national team’s abysmal Euros campaign, the Tartan Army have revelled in the fact that the last nation to beat Spain were the Scots, in the famous 2-0 victory last March.
In truth, about the only thing that remains in common between the side that Luis de la Fuente sent out as he took charge of his nation for the first time that night at Hampden and the one he will send out this evening in the Olympiastadion are the colour of the shirts.
Just four of the players who started that night in Mount Florida – Rodri, Mikel Merino, Joselu and Mikel Oyarzabal – even made the final squad for the Euros, though Dani Carvajal and Nico Williams did come off the bench.
As the Spanish head coach has moulded his team in his image though, they have shed some of the trademark characteristics we have come to expect of La Roja over the past decade or more.
They like to dominate the ball if they can, of course, but gone is the treasuring of ball possession above all else. In fact, in their opening game of this tournament, their ridiculous run of 136 competitive games where they had more possession than their opponents – a record that went back 16 years to the 2008 Euros final – ended against Croatia, who had 53 per cent of the ball. Spain won 3-0.
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They are less predictable, there is more jeopardy in their play, and in their two exciting young talents on the wings, they have added a new dimension to their attack. Both Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal – who only turned 17 on the eve of the match – have been outstanding.
They do leave their centre-backs a little exposed, a weakness that both Germany and France have been able to exploit to a point on the counter, and this is where England may have their best hope of causing the Spanish one or two problems.
On balance though, Spain are justifiably favourites. They have had the harder path to the final, and have played by far the better football to get there.
If the game goes by the formbook, then the only thing coming home will be the European Championship trophy, back to the country it has been to more than any other.
