'I'm the coach - get used to it!', says Hierro

Spain's path to European Championship success was forged the hard way thanks to a remarkable collective effort, with several squad players coming off the bench at key moments to make decisive contributions when the team needed them the most.

Substitute Mikel Oyarzabal became the 10th Spain player to score at Euro 2024 when he set up and finished in the 86th minute to secure a 2-1 win over England and a record fourth title. It was their 15th goal, the most by any team at a Euros.

It was a similar script to the 2-1 quarter-final victory over Germany when substitute Mikel Merino stepped up to head the winner in the last moments of extra-time to silence a raucous Stuttgart Stadion.

Spain had to dig deep but their monstrous effort in that ill-tempered game against Germany had a price, with midfielder Pedri sustaining a knee serious injury that put him out of the tournament, while bookings for defenders Dani Carvajal and Robin Le Normand left them depleted to face France in the semi-final.

However, Spain once again showed their grit and passion to overcome another obstacle, with Dani Olmo, who also came off the bench to score and provide an assist against Germany, starting versus France, replacing Pedri, and scoring the winner.

Spain's ultimate team victory came in the final when all looked to be going against them after their most reliable player, Euro 2024 MVP Rodri, could not return for the second-half after suffering a knee injury.

With the game level at 1-1 and England on a roll, left-back Marc Cucurella, whose mistake led to the counter-attack that gave England the equaliser, redeemed himself with a lung-busting 50 metres run followed by the cross for Oyarzabal to score.

Cucurella was one of the brightest lights of Spain's Euro 2024 campaign and credited his performances to his diligent work ethic during an underwhelming spell at club side Chelsea.

A team full of under the radar players with uplifting stories that ground out seven wins in seven matches playing a mostly attacking game at a tournament in which most of the big favourites left under criticism for underwhelming performances.

Spain's two opening wins enabled coach Luis de la Fuente to make 10 changes for the final group game against Albania and the stand-ins did not miss a beat as they carved out a 1-0 win.

They had the perfect leader in coach Luis de la Fuente, the man who was mocked on social media as "Luis de la Who?" after his appointment last year, being little known after toiling away at the country's academy level for over a decade.

He had the chance to work with over half of the players he took to Germany, with names like Rodri, Olmo, Merino, Oyarzabal and Fabian, who had played big roles under his calm guidance in the Under-19 and Under-21 European Championship in 2015 and 2019 respectively, now repeating that success in the senior squad.

"In life and in sport, when you give your best effort and sacrifice yourself, you get the reward from everything you gave up to get there," Rodri told Spain's TVE.

"We have made history. We have beaten four world champions (Italy, Germany, France and England) one after the other, the hardest way to win it. It speaks to the mentality of the team.

"This is something that was cultivated, many of us were Under-19, Under-21 champions together. The coach knew what he was doing. The coach knew what he was doing!"

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente called on a "brilliant" generation of players to make history for their country in the Euro 2024 final against England on Sunday.

La Roja are aiming to win a record fourth European Championship 12 years after they last lifted the trophy.

With Rodri Hernandez pulling the strings in midfield and explosive young wingers Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams in attack, Spain have been the tournament's great entertainers on the road to Berlin.

"It's a brilliant generation, many of them have come through successful youth levels and that usually bodes well for success," De la Fuente told reporters Saturday.

"We want to start to make history -- and we have made history already in the run to (the final)... I trust in a great future, there's both present and future."

Spain won the 2008 and 2012 Euros and the 2010 World Cup with many star players from Barcelona and Real Madrid, including Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Sergio Ramos and David Villa.

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The current side has fewer stars but consider that one of their strong points, with the squad on an even footing and "unity" has been a key word among Spain players at the tournament.

Despite Spain shining en route to the final while England have scraped through, De la Fuente said the clash at the Olympiastadion will be "extremely balanced".

"Whichever team manages to impose their strengths, whoever makes less errors (will win)," said the coach.

"But you can win a one-off game, even playing far worse (than your opponent).

"We need to have maximum concentration, not make any mistakes and take advantage of the chances we have -- put them away."

The coach thanked injured duo Pedri and Ayoze Perez, who will not be available to face England, and said Barcelona midfielder Gavi will travel to join the team for the final.

The 19-year-old missed most of the season with a knee injury but was an important player for Spain before sustaining it in November.

- 'Incredible maturity' -

De la Fuente said it was no challenge to keep Barcelona's Yamal, who turned 17 on Saturday, and Athletic Bilbao's Williams, 22, calm ahead of the biggest game of their careers.

"It's not at all hard, they have such joy, and incredible maturity for such young players, they understand the sport very well and they are well accompanied by more experienced players," explained the coach.

"We're a team, it's not about hailing individuals, and this makes us stronger."

At the other end of the age spectrum is 38-year-old Sevilla defender Jesus Navas, who started the semi-final win over France in direct confrontation with Kylian Mbappe.

Navas won the 2010 World Cup, 2012 Euros and the 2023 Nations League with Spain and said he would love to lift another trophy with his country.

"To still be enjoying myself with my national team at 38 is incredible," said the right-back.

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"In (Spain's golden years) we were such a close-knit group, and you could feel it. Now it's the same, there's an incredible group. I'm delighted by everything that's happening to us.

"We know the excitement and hope that we all have and I hope we can win it."

UEFA has started disciplinary proceedings against Spanish players Alvaro Morata and Rodri over their behaviour during a Euro 2024 presentation in Madrid this month, European soccer's governing body said on Tuesday.

The players sang "Gibraltar is Spanish" on July 15, the day after they won the European Championship with a 2-1 victory over England in Berlin, during a public celebration in the Spanish capital. Gibraltar is a British territory located at the southern tip of Spain.

Gibraltar's Football Association filed a formal complaint to UEFA about the chant, and UEFA appointed an ethics and disciplinary inspector to evaluate whether it violated regulations.

The charges against Rodri and Morata include violating the basic rules of decent conduct, general principles of conduct, using sporting events for manifestations of a non-sporting nature and bringing the sport of football into disrepute.

Thousands of people in Madrid welcomed Spain's squad home on Monday after they beat England to win Euro 2024.

After receptions with King Felipe VI and prime minister Pedro Sanchez, La Roja were paraded through the capital city on an open-top bus.

It was adorned with the message "it's only the beginning" and the trophy sat at the front of the bus.

"We want a lot," Sanchez said.

"We want more," he added.

The likes of Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams and Sunday's match-winner in Berlin, Mikel Oyarzabal, wore white t-shirts with the number four on them in reference to the record number of times Spain have won the European Championship.

"For now, we're not realising yet what we have accomplished," Williams said.

The attacker, who scored the opening goal of the 2-1 victory, was also eager to thank Spain's fans "for the love and warmth they brought the team".

The team bus took them to Plaza Cibeles in central Madrid where thousands more fans waited to celebrate the success, following on from victories in 1964, 2008 and 2012.

Every time Lamine Yamal scores, he holds up his fingers to sign the numbers 304 -- the postcode of Rocafonda, the modest Catalan district where he grew up, which is bursting with pride over the 16-year-old's success in Euro 2024.

It's not yet midday but there is a real buzz inside the local bar, El Cordobes, which is still reeling with excitement after Yamal, who used to come in with his dad, clutching a football, shot home the sublime goal against France that helped propel Spain to Sunday's Euro 2024 final.

For years, people here to the north of Barcelona knew he was different but nobody could have predicted the lad would go on to become the youngest player to score in a European Championship.

"We knew he was going to play with Barcelona's first team," bar owner Juan Carlos Serrano says with a proud smile.

"But we had no idea he would have the kind of impact he's having now."

On the wall behind him is a framed Barcelona shirt signed by Yamal that his father gave Serrano as thanks for his support during the years when the pair used to go to the bar before taking the train into the city for him to train with the club's youth team -- until he signed with their famed La Masia youth academy.

That was the last day Yamal came into the bar, but not the last time he came back to this district of Mataro, a city of 130,000 people that lies 30 kilometres (18 miles) up the coast from Barcelona where he spent some of his childhood and where many locals proudly show off photos with him.

- 'A proud, happy father' -

After his parents separated, Yamal lived between the nearby town of Granollers and Mataro, but his constant visits to his grandmother, who arrived from Morocco decades ago and still lives in Rocafonda, has kept up his ties to the neighbourhood where his father is greeted as a local hero.

Just back from Germany, where he watched Spain's semi-final victory over France semi-final match, his neighbours are crowding around to congratulate him over his son's stunning goal, which he still gets excited about.

"I lived every moment in that stadium just like any other Spanish fan, going crazy," says Mounir Nasraoui exuberantly standing in the doorway of the bar.

And he will soon be going back, with more to celebrate: his son turns 17 on Saturday and on Sunday, he's hoping for victory in the final against England.

"As a father, I am proud, happy and grateful," he said, thanking his neighbours for their support.

"This neighbourhood is proud of being the place where Lamine Yamal comes from."

- 'We have a star here!' -

Several streets away, the blazing sun is not enough to stop the kids from playing football on a local pitch where Yamal too spent hours playing when he was small.

Everyone wants to be like him in this neighbourhood which is thrown into the limelight every time the young star player signs its 304 postcode.

"People get really excited about Lamine Yamal because nothing like this has ever happened here before," explains Mamadou Sow, 32, who works in catering.

"That gives the kids even more desire to do sports and other things ," he told AFP, saying he was overjoyed to "finally" see the neighbourhood, which has come in for some negative press in recent years, being mentioned on TV for positive reasons.

"It's exciting."

Life has not been simple in this district on the outskirts of Mataro whose postcode is 08304 and which has a large immigrant population and a lower income than other more affluent neighbourhoods.

"We've always had a bad reputation for crime and other things, and to have someone so important shedding a different light on the neighbourhood is really positive," said Rocio Escandell, head of the Rocafonda residents' association.

Despite his youth, Yamal has long been venerated in his childhood home.

Outside the bakery that his uncle used to run by the local football pitch is a large painted image of him wearing a Barca shirt, his arms crossed and fingers signing the number 304.

Jauad Darraz, the new owner, is carrying out renovations so he can open a new bar.

But there are some things he does not intend to change.

"We're changing everything except the picture," he grins, referring to the painting.

"I like it because Lamine Yamal is from the neighbourhood... We have a star here!."