<p>He only played half the game, but <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/football/article/euro-2024-spain-triumph-a-saving-grace-for-disappointing-euro-campaign-23364287" target="_blank" rel="none noopener"><strong>Spain</strong></a> midfielder Rodri called it the best day of his career.</p>
<p>Spain looked to have suffered a major blow when Rodri went off with an unspecified injury at half-time in the European Championship final against England on Sunday with the score at 0-0.</p>
<h2>Freak injury</h2>
<p>Rodri said he felt something odd in his leg after running into teammate Robin Le Normand and that he knew he couldn&rsquo;t keep going after trying a sprint.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Despite Rodri&rsquo;s absence, Spain took the lead just two minutes into the second half&mdash;Lamine Yamal drifting in from the left to find Nico Williams, who cut the ball under England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. Cole Palmer equalised three minutes after coming on as a substitute to give England hope, but Mikel Oyarzabal came in sliding to tap in a cross and scored with four minutes&nbsp;remaining for Spain to win 2-1 and claim its fourth European title. &ldquo;My God, what a day, this is surely the best day of my career,&rdquo; Rodri said after he was presented with the player of the tournament award.</p>
<p><img title="Player of the final Nico Williams; Player of the tournament Rodri; Best young player of the tournament Lamine Yamal" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2024/jul/this-spainsh-b_e.jpg" alt="Player of the final Nico Williams; Player of the tournament Rodri; Best young player of the tournament Lamine Yamal" width="1280" height="720" /><strong><em>Player of the final Nico Williams; Player of the tournament Rodri; Best young player of the tournament Lamine Yamal</em></strong></p>
<p>Rodri helped Manchester City win the Champions League title in June, including scoring the only goal of the final against Inter Milan.&nbsp;</p>
<p>On Sunday, Rodri was replaced at the break by Real Sociedad&rsquo;s Martin Zubimendi.</p>
<p>&ldquo;You only have to see the family we have built. Now, we are the national team that has won the most European Championships,&rdquo; said Rodri, going on to pay tribute to Spain&rsquo;s young players in particular&mdash;Williams, 22, and Lamine Yamal, 17. They won the player of the match and young player of the tournament awards, respectively. &ldquo;Today we are champions of Europe, but we&rsquo;re not going to stop here. Imagine what comes next. We made history, but this doesn&rsquo;t stop here. The future for us is going to be everything. We have the talent to keep going and winning,&rdquo; added Rodri.</p>
<h2>&lsquo;This bunch never tire&rsquo;</h2>
<p>Spain&rsquo;s coach Luis de la Fuente also hailed his young brigade and warned of more glory to follow. &nbsp;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not that I thought we were favourites, but I felt we were in a position to win the tournament and we did. It&rsquo;s hard to improve on what we&rsquo;ve done here, but this group can keep growing because they do not tire of hard work. These players have made history and they still have a long way to go,&rdquo; De la Fuente said.</p>
<h2>The goals...&nbsp;</h2>
<p><img title="47th min: Nico Williams (right) opens the scoring for Spain... 1-0" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2024/jul/this-spainsh-c_e.jpg" alt="47th min: Nico Williams (right) opens the scoring for Spain... 1-0" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p><strong>47th min:</strong> Nico Williams (right) opens the scoring for Spain... 1-0</p>
<p><img title="73rd min: Cole Palmer hammers in the equaliser for England... 1-1" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2024/jul/this-spainsh-d_e.jpg" alt="73rd min: Cole Palmer hammers in the equaliser for England... 1-1" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p><strong>73rd min:</strong> Cole Palmer hammers in the equaliser for England... 1-1</p>
<p><img title="86th min: Mikel Oyarzabal slides in to tap the winner for Spain... 2-1" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2024/jul/this-spainsh-e_e.jpg" alt="86th min: Mikel Oyarzabal slides in to tap the winner for Spain... 2-1" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p><strong>86th min: </strong>Mikel Oyarzabal slides in to tap the winner for Spain... 2-1</p>
<p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever</em></span></p><p>
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Spain beat England 2-1 in Euro 2024 summit clash to emerge champions for the fourth time; Player of the tournament Rodri and head coach Luis de la Fuente are co

This Spanish Armada won't stop here!

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Spain beat England 2-1 in Euro 2024 summit clash to emerge champions for the fourth time; Player of the tournament Rodri and head coach Luis de la Fuente are confident their youthful team will deliver more trophies in future

This Spanish Armada won't stop here!

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