Raphael Benitezformer Napoli coach, gave an exclusive interview to the Spanish newspaper AS to analyse tonight’s final between Spain And England: “It will be a great match – he said -. Spain has been the team that has maintained the best level up to this point. Germany also played well, as did Austria, Switzerland. But Spain had their strongest rivals in front of them: France, Italy… They were more consistent in terms of playing well and doing what they had to do. They made the most of their players. Has there been a change? Possession football without progression is a deception. In 2008, Spain had 57% possession, in 2012, 65% and in 2022 they had 77%. Now they have 57% again. There is no need for so much possession, they need more practicality”.
Benitez then analyzed the performances of William and Yamal, the two revelations of the European Championship: “When you have the ease of choosing you can shape the players. It is more difficult when you do not have this ease, like in a club. Nico Williams and Yamal can create imbalance, there are full-backs who join together and midfielders who score goals. We had to create a selection that could adapt to all this, and that is what happened”.