What are the biggest truths we learnt from Euro 2024?

Euro 2024 has ended, and it ensured our summer wasn’t too boring, as fans could watch some football games on TV while clubs were on break.

The competition started with 24 teams from the continent competing for the trophy, and Spain emerged as winners.

If you ask some fans and neutrals, there has probably never been a more deserving winner of the competition.

From the beginning of the Euros, the Spaniards proved that they were too good for the other teams in the competition.

In the knockout stages, they defeated Germany and France to reach the final, where they faced England and prevailed.

The Englishmen were surprised finalists and had ridden their luck for much of the competition as Gareth Southgate’s men failed to meet expectations.

The Three Lions somehow reached the final, and when the game was squared at 1-1, it seemed they could win the competition, which would have been undeserved because Spain was the best team in the match, and they were also the best team in the competition.

La Roja has some of the best players in the competition and has left us with some memorable performances.

In this article, we discuss some of the things we learned from the competition that are interesting.

La Liga might be better than the Premier League

La Liga tickets holders will not be surprised, but the Spanish top flight might be better than the Premier League.

The general belief is that the Premier League is the best and most competitive league in the world, and we have all bought into that submission.

However, in this competition, we watched the best players in the Premier League struggle while those in La Liga shone, especially for the Spanish national team.

The best player of the tournament, Rodri, plays in the Premier League, and Marc Cucurella was in terrific form; he is also an EPL player.

However, most of the Spanish players play in La Liga, especially the attacking duo of Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams.

Those two attackers might play in the same club this season, with Barcelona interested in a move for Williams.

Even Jude Bellingham, who was important to the England national team, plays in La Liga, while the likes of Phil Foden and Trent Alexander Arnold, who are key players in the Premier League, struggled.

The Premier League will continue to attract the attention of the top players in the world because of its commercial success, but the Euros has shown that La Liga is probably a better competition. 

English players are robots

It remains baffling that England reached the final of Euro 2024, and most neutrals did not expect them to win because it could have been undeserving.

However, they somehow reached the final and nearly nicked a win at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, but Spain met expectations.

The Three Lions team had some of the best players in the world, but one certain thing is that they did not play with the freedom the Spanish players had.

Before the tournaments, there had been talk of Phil Foden being a robot who could function only in Pep Guardiola’s system, and the same could be said of most England players.

They seemed to have one way of playing, and the Three Lions are arguably the most predictable team to have reached the finals of a major tournament.

England stars played with less freedom than most of them have at their club levels and it made their matches tough to watch.

Unless they begin to use their technical abilities more, it will be hard to get the most out of the current England generation.

Kylian Mbappe was right about the Euros

Kylian Mbappe famously suggested that the Euros is tougher than the World Cup ahead of the competition and his prediction proved to be true.

The Frenchman is one of the world’s best strikers and had failed to score in his previous edition of the competition before this year.

However, he eventually found the back of the net before France was kicked out of the competition in the semi-finals.

The World Cup brings together more teams worldwide, but the Euros is between European nations who seem to know each other.

Germany and Spain were the only nations that truly stood out in this Euros, and if they had not faced each other before the finals, they could have met at the ultimate stage of the competition.

They stood out because they found solutions to some of the tough questions opponents asked them, but the games at the Euros were always close.

It seemed every team was facing an opponent on the same level as they are, which gave room for upset.

The competition served some of the best games in international football and Mbappe’s pre-tournament comments became prophesy as France failed to reach the final or to win the competition again.

Germany will struggle to win a major trophy again

The Germany team of the last year won over the hearts of the country’s fans after several years of underachievement.

Julian Nagelsmann seemed to have revitalised the team as they won some key games ahead of Euro 2024 and he secured the return of Toni Kroos.

His squad selection for the competition raised some eyebrows, especially after he left Matt Hummels at home.

However, Germany was still one of the best teams at the Euros and if they had not been beaten by Spain in the knockout stage, they probably could have become the champions of Europe again.

Having fallen short at this Euros, it is hard to see Germany win the 2026 World Cup or Euro 2028.

Toni Kroos has now retired and Nagelsmann will have to reconstruct that midfield and Kroos is simply irreplaceable, which is why he was asked to come out of retirement again to play for the German machines.

Germany has a long way to go in building a team that can win a major honour, but the likes of Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz can help them continue to make the knockout stage of the competitions.

Cristiano Ronaldo is a hindrance to Portugal

One of the worst mistakes the manager of the Portugal national team can make seems to be taking Cristiano Ronaldo out of the team.

Because the Portuguese star continues to play active football and is chasing records, it will be tough for him to resign willingly.

This means Roberto Martinez has to make the bold choice of benching him or forcing him out of the Portugal team.

Ronaldo no longer has the legs to cover a lot of distance and is hardly pressing to recover possession.

In the last few years, he has banked on scoring from tap-ins, and when Portugal cannot create those chances for him to take, the attacker is ineffective in games.

He has been the biggest player Portugal has had for decades, but his current poor output makes him a hindrance to the team.

If they are to fulfil their potential and win a major trophy with their current generation of players, Portugal must oust Ronaldo.

Conclusion

There are so many lessons to learn from the recent Euro 2024 and we have only covered a few of them in this articles.

In truth, it was a superb tournament and in the end, we had a deserved winner for it, which is great news.