On the final whistle it seemed most of the Spanish players were crying in Berlin but back in Spain there were no tears only wild celebration as the nation that won three straight tournaments between 2008 and 2012 celebrated kicking off what could be another golden age.

The fact that their wonder wingers Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal have just turned 22 and 17 is the basis for that belief in the future. Yamal will be 18 at the next World Cup. He could still be playing in 2042.

No wonder coach Luis de la Fuente, who has been brave right from the start of this tournament playing them both, is about to get a pay rise taking him from around 600,000 euros a year to 1.8m. Spain won every game scoring 15 goals in total, more than any team has managed in a Euros.

‘Let’s go for the World Cup,’ said man-of-the-match Williams. ‘We’ve got a great team to go forward with.’ The heroes of that run of three trophies over a decade ago, Andres Iniesta, David Villa and Xavi, were all in the stadium and will find it hard to doubt these players are capable of something similar.

There were huge public viewing spaces in 14 cities across Spain that included one in Barcelona and two in Bilbao. These are cities that certainly never host Spain games and where support has sometimes been lukewarm for the national team.

Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams both had excellent tournaments for Spain at Euro 2024

But Williams who plays for Athletic Bilbao and Yamal who plays for Barcelona have changed all that. The son of Ghanian refugees and immigrants from Morocco and Guinea were the stars of the tournament from Spain’s first game.

There were around 25,000 people in Madrid’s Plaza Colon and they had their hearts in their mouths when Foden’s shot late in the first half almost squeezed in at Unai Simon’s near post.

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Those watching in the baking evening heat in the capital soon became aware that Rodri had left the pitch at half time he had signaled to friends and family in the crowd that his match was over, clattered by his own team-mate Aymeric Laporte.

The Spanish king and his daughter were interviewed on Spanish television at half time and Princesa Sofia said: ‘We’ve played well but we need to create more chances’. She got what she asked for at the restart when Spain took the lead.

It was at 10.05 local time when the fireworks when off everywhere from Barcelona to Sevilla. Kiko, the former Spain striker who lost at Wembley at Euro ’96 summed up what the game would be all about from her on in. ‘I’m interested to see what England have got now,’ said the former striker.

The answer was not enough. Spain were pegged back but responded to make history. No team has ever won the competition four times. And as they will not tire of reminding people in the days and weeks to come, they did it beating four World Champions, England the last of those, on the way.