Spain were left bitterly disillusioned by defeat to England in the ultimate of Euro 2025, feeling they deserved more from a match they were the higher team in.
The world champions took the lead in the primary half through Mariona Caldentey but Alessia Russo equalised for the Lionesses just before the hour mark.
The match wound its method to additional time and remained 1-1 by the ultimate whistle, set to be decided by a penalty shootout.
Spain really stumbled from the spot, with England running out 3-1 winners to defend their European Championship title.
The runners-up dominated possession (64.9 per cent), had 22 shots to England’s eight and will probably be ruing various missed opportunities as they clearly feel they were the superior side in Basel.
Manager Montserrat Tome said: ‘The players are in bad shape, as is your entire staff. That is what this career entails; we deserved a unique ending. We had it, and it slipped away.
‘This team deserved more; we’ve been working for this for a very long time. I feel the team did what it took to get more. That is sport, and you might have to know the best way to lose. We had a superb first half; within the second, once they tied the rating, we were too far behind. We tried again in additional time.
We were the higher team, but that’s football; the most effective team doesn’t at all times win.’
Tome did praise the Lionesses’ resilience, not only in the ultimate, but having come through a penalty shootout within the quarter-finals against Sweden and additional time against Italy within the semis.
‘England is an ideal team, with a really high competitive level,’ continued the Spain boss.
‘They’ve been playing on the sting for quite a number of games, they’ve tricky moments, but they at all times solve them. They’ve been higher on penalties.’
Spain superstar Aitana Bonmati had similar feelings, finding it hard to consider her team were beaten, while apologising for missing her spot kick.
‘I’m in shock, I don’t have many emotions. I’ve emptied myself,’ she said.
‘It’s been a protracted time here, it’s cruel since it was our objective and every part is determined on penalties. I apologise for my mistake, I couldn’t rating.
‘Congratulations to the opponent. I feel we played a superb game, I feel we played well and at times we were superior, but sometimes in football it’s not enough. I’m really upset right away, I’ll come to terms with it in the following few days.
‘From the seventieth minute onwards, the sport was ours. Football is cruel. It looks like every part is bad right away, but I feel we’re the team that played the most effective football within the tournament.’
England boss Sarina Wiegman admits the tournament has been a struggle for her team at times, but that only makes her more pleased with her players.
‘I’m pretty calm in the course of the games. This tournament each game has challenged us,’ said the winning manager.
‘We took those on board and the way the team recovered from some setbacks, again today we went behind, but how we come back and the way we kept working together and so hard and in addition then win. That’s an important thing.’
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