The last time Spain won a major tournament, technically speaking, was last year. Their women’s side triumphed in Sydney to win the Women’s World Cup playing a brand of football that was very familiar to the men’s side.
Arguably their key player in the knockout stage was Salma Paralluelo, which was unusual considering she wasn’t actually a regular starter. She was a substitute in the quarter-final and scored the winner. She was again a substitute in the semi-final and again scored the winner. She started up front in the final and didn’t score, but she was a surefire pick for the best XI of the tournament, despite the fact she wasn’t a surefire pick for her own team’s starting XI.
This seems strange but also seems increasingly common. Federico Chiesa, who started only four of Italy’s seven games at the last European Championship, was also voted into the team of the tournament despite being most effective as a substitute. Perhaps, in this era where managers can use five subs, we should also pick a ‘best bench’ of the tournament — not simply players who consistently started but weren’t quite good enough to get in the best XI, but players who made the biggest impact from the bench.
That is likely to be the role of Dani Olmo at Euro 2024. With Spain already…
