Why is Spain a Euro finalist? The numbers that explain Tomé's team

Spain will play its first European Championship final against England this Sunday with the feeling of being the team that has played the best football in the tournament. It's not subjective. The national team has tamed the statistics that almost always underlie success. All the signs that emerged in the group stage have been confirmed in the two difficult matches: the quarterfinals against the determined hosts Switzerland , and the semifinals against the ever-present wall of Germany .

This team, led by Montse Tomé, has accelerated all the statistics of Spanish women's football at breakneck speed. With the victory against Germany, Spain has gone nine consecutive matches without losing in a major tournament. The last defeat was at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand against Japan (4-0) on July 31, 2023. It has been 724 days in which the players have won every match they have played. At that World Cup, to become champions, they won against Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and England. In this European Championship, they won against Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. That's nine consecutive victories. A total of 26 matches had taken the national team eight wins, and not in a row, in major tournaments.

Scoring whirlwind

If at the World Cup, with one more round (the round of 16), they scored 18 goals and conceded 7, in Switzerland they are the team that leads the scoring charts: 17 in five matches, and only three conceded. Only England, a finalist who also achieved two thrashings in the first round against the Netherlands and Wales, is close behind with 15 goals. The 14 that the Spanish team scored in the first round is a competition record.

Although the tournament's Golden Boot winner is Esther González with four goals, Spain's threat comes from many fronts. As many as 10 different players have scored (five different goals in a single match), bringing them close to a record held by the English team since 2022: eleven different scorers in the tournament and six celebrating in a single match.

Spain has scored 16.34% of the 104 goals seen so far in Swiss stadiums, a record for goals in the Euros, and they are also the team that has taken the most shots on goal , with 123. Clàudia Pina leads the way, having attempted ten times, taken 27 corners (the most), and scored one goal.

From that attacking vocation that managed to corner Germany for many moments came Aitana Bonmatí 's goal in the 113th minute of extra time, which became Spain's latest goal in a major tournament and brought the two-time Ballon d'Or winner level with Jenni Hermoso as the all-time top scorer in a knockout stage, with three goals.

The incorporation of Aitana, who has gradually recovered from meningitis, has meant that the creative role around the box has been more evenly shared with Alexia , who leads the tournament ranking with four assists. In the quarterfinal match against Switzerland, she alone generated 18 scoring chances , the highest number in a World Cup or European Championship since the formats were changed and expanded in 2011. Her play and statistics are once again brilliant, and they include, in addition to assists, three goals and two selections as best player of the match. In the race for the Ballon d'Or, she seemed to have gained an advantage, which Aitana, also with two MVP awards, is now beginning to reduce.

Possession, passes... and Patri Guijarro

But Spain's torrent of play is born from possession. No team touches the ball as much as Spain (67%), which averages 620 passes per game , 89.2% of them successful. Mallorca's Patri Guijarro emerges with extraordinary brilliance in this task. 416 passes have passed through her boots alone in this Euros. Against Germany, in the tense semifinal, she made 143 first-touch passes and nine of 13 long passes to take advantage of the Germans' space. "Patri sees passes and gaps where the others don't," said Vicky López a few days ago. She returned to the national team for the Paris Games and struggled to adapt. A year later, she is an indispensable player for Montse Tomé.

Against Germany, she became one of only two players to have made 100 passes and won possession more than ten times in a knockout match at a World Cup or European Championship. The other was Denmark's Katrine Pedersen at Euro 2013.

Patri Guijarro is also pure balance. Spain is the third team, after Germany and England, in terms of ball recovery: 211. In the semifinal alone, she made 12 steals. "This team has matured," said Tomé before last Wednesday's match in Zurich. This is reflected in the fact that they also have the third-most fouls , with 58, behind only England (64) and Germany (65).

Furthermore, in recent matches, despite creating chances, the return of Cata Coll , with some impressive saves, has helped Spain keep two clean sheets, a statistic that is always crucial when tournaments enter the knockout stage. In fact, the team has conceded the fewest goals in this European Championship, with three goals conceded.