Spain are European champions for a record-fourth time, their 2-1 win over England in the Berlin final their third continental of the past five. Crowned by their 2010 World Cup triumph in South Africa, the haul means there’s no doubt of their status as the preeminent men’s football nation through the 21st century’s first quarter.

England’s trophy drought will stretch into a 60th year by their next opportunity at major silverware. A second consecutive Euros final for no result means further disappointment for a side that divided opinion throughout their time in Germany, fell behind in every knockout match, but still almost achieved the ultimate.

‘As an Englishman I’m disappointed, but as a football lover I watched an outstanding team in Spain who were undoubtedly the better team on the night, and the best team in the tournament’, football commentary icon Martin Tyler told Box2Box.

‘They keep coming up with results when you think things cannot go on like they do. You’d expect their young players to falter, or, as happened, Rodri came off at halftime, a serial winner. You’d expect that to make a dent in their progress, but they’ve overcome all adversity.

‘They were also good enough in the last ten minutes to see England off. There was a real (goalline) skirmish at the end, but outside of that, other teams have got themselves in good positions against England but not been able to contain the Premier League power they produce, physically and talent-wise.’

Spain’s winner came through substitute Mikel Oyarzabal, his twelfth and most-important goal for his country laid on a plate by Marc Cucurella in the 86th minute. After a tense first-half Spain had earlier opened the scoring in the second through Nico Williams, before England levelled through Cole Palmer.

Palmer was England’s most constructive attacking player in Germany but did not make a start, withheld to five appearances off the bench. Nor did Ollie Watkins, who Palmer teed up for the winner in their semi-final against the Netherlands, or Watkins’ fellow striker Ivan Toney.

Instead, Gareth Southgate opted for the tried and tested, but flagging, Harry Kane from the start of all seven games, alongside Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden. This was one of numerous puzzles Southgate was or wasn’t able to solve, depending on who you ask. Did they over, or underachieve?

‘It’s a very difficult subject. What do you expect, what’s a realistic ambition in such a competitive sport? You can look at it both ways, that England have had very positive improvement under Southgate: semi-final of the World Cup 2018, semi-final of the new Nations League 2019, final of Euro 2020, quarter-final of a World Cup [2022] when they missed a penalty and a chance to push on.

‘The lack of silverware is something thrown at everybody. Southgate has transformed England, but the expectation that England should be winners, when very few nations are… [means] it’s not a simple story.’

Southgate has since resigned as England manager, and his legacy will be largely defined by what his now-former charges manage under his yet-to-be-determined successor. If they break their trophy drought in a blaze of goals and gay abandon in the coming years, those critical of his conservative nature will firm in their belief that these have been years and tournaments lost.

Should England descend back into the chaos Southgate walked into, ritual tournament disasters, a managerial revolving door and a changeroom fragmented by club loyalty, then his ability to stop the rot and unify would be the defining quality of his chapter, in hindsight.

‘Nobody is criticising him as a person, he’s done a wonderful job bringing integrity to the position and getting the country in love with the football team again. But obviously the business of professional sport is silverware and for England, it will be 60 years now, assuming they qualify for the next World Cup.

‘That’s the dichotomy of it, really. There’s a feeling that he’s had his time, but there’s also a great loyalty from the fan base, travelling the world getting to games in later rounds that they’d never have got to under previous regimes.’