Women's Euros
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The European champions will be crowned today as England and Spain meet in a repeat of the 2023 Women's World Cup final.
Sarina Wiegman's side are looking to defend their title against the reigning world champions, who have never won this trophy.
As the top-ranked European team, Spain are favourites to prevail today but England were the last team to beat them, back in February.
England (4-3-3): Hampton; Bronze, Williamson, Carter, Greenwood; Toone, Walsh, Stanway; James, Russo, Hemp.
Spain (4-3-3): Coll; Batlle, Paredes, Aleixandri, Carmona; Bonmati, Guijarro, Putellas; Del Castillo, Gonzalez, Caldentey.
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When holding midfielder Patri Guijarro was asked to play in defence for the 2021 Champions League final against Chelsea, it was out of her comfort zone. But she was flawless and Barcelona won 4-0.
And when they discovered attacking midfielder Alexia Putellas was set to miss most of the entire 2022-23 season with a knee injury, Guijarro was asked to step forward into the role played by the world’s best player. She was up for the challenge.
When that season’s Champions League final arrived, Barcelona went 2-0 down to Wolfsburg, but Guijarro scored twice at the start of the second half to draw them level, before Barca won it 3-2. Guijarro was named player of the match as an attacking midfielder.
That sums up Guijarro; constantly sacrificing herself for the team and capable of playing almost any position.
Traditionally, players in that role do not get the plaudits, especially when they are playing in the same midfield as Putellas and Aitana Bonmati, who have split the past four Ballon d’Or awards between them. But maybe that is starting to change.
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She'll hope the rain only affects Spain in the main, to be plain.
The parents of Lionesses talk candidly to The Athletic's Katie Whyatt, Charlotte Harpur and Simon Johnson about the challenges and sacrifices involved in helping their daughters reach the top.
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Phenomenally harsh on crema catalana, this poster.
This summer’s tournament has made significant progress in attracting travelling supporters to Switzerland.
The record for the most away fans at a single women’s Euros game was broken this month with 17,000 Germany supporters attending their win against Denmark in Basel, a city within walking distance of the Swiss-German border, in the group stage.
Meanwhile, Sweden have a fans’ group called Soft Hooligans, while Finland's supporters are led in chants by a ‘Capo’. Atmosphere has not been lacking.
Don't expect it to be lacking today either.
A not so fun consequence of the women’s football boom is the devilishly long queues for the women’s toilets.
Main stadia historically designed for men’s football means women’s toilets aren’t exactly fit for purpose.
Queues for toilets longer than for a can of Heineken and a €6.00 soft pretzel.
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It is not that long ago that these two sides last faced each other — with Spain running out 2-1 winners in the Nations League.
Alessia Russo gave England the lead midway through the first half before a brace from Claudia Pina turned the game around for the World Cup winners.
England were the last team to inflict defeat upon Spain, in the same competition back in February. Jess Park got the only goal in that one as the European champions won 1-0 at Wembley.
England vs Spain is becoming quite the international rivalry these days — and the Lionesses will be determined to make sure they do not lose another major trophy to familiar opponents.
After a 1-0 World Cup final defeat in a tight game two years ago, Sarina Wiegman's side will be keen to prevent Spain getting their hands on the Euro trophy.
Olga Carmona scored the winning goal in Australia in the biggest match in women's football.
England will be even more determined because they hold the title of champions of Europe — and will be desperate to preserve that status for another four years.
Sarina Wiegman knows the drill as she prepares to manage her third straight Euros final, but that does not make it any less nerve-wracking for the England manager.
Here's what she had to say when speaking to the BBC about her team selection and the occasion.
💬 “For Italy we needed Esme (Morgan at centre-back). Tonight Spain will show some different things so we needed Jess (Carter). It shows what she can do, that she's a strong personality but also the support of the team. We kept playing football, kept doing training sessions and she turned up.
“(Reaching a third tournament final in a row) is really important, that experience has shown this whole tournament. The players who have done it before have been sharing the experience with players who might be here at their first.
“Let's hope it's a little bit less nerve-wracking!”
Gemma Davison, one of James’ coaches at Chelsea, said in her written message to her on The Athletic: “You know your ability and you are never in doubt that you can dominate any opponent you play against.
“You’ve just got that edge and that talent everyone else would love to have, strong, both-footed, unpredictable, skilful and just the ability to change a game in one moment.
“But that fire in you to just switch it on and annihilate teams is what sets you apart.”
Read all the other messages to the 23 Lionesses, from those who know them best, below.
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Forward Lauren James came off at half-time of England's semi-final against Italy with an ankle injury.
Wiegman evidently feels she is fit enough to start and make an impact.
England must hit the ground running. There is no easing in period against Spain and James will be pivotal to that.
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Inside St-Jakob stadium, where the screens at seat entrances are actively encouraging (and offering advice on how) fans to do the Mexican wave.
Make of that what you will.
Thoughts on the above?
It's a lot cooler here in Basel than it has been throughout the Euros.
Rain is forecast.
The question is: Can England do it on a rainy night in Basel?
It's also significant that Montse Tome has chosen to start Athenea del Castillo.
She's consistently excellent from the bench — as England encountered when she opened the scoring in the quarter-final between the sides in Brighton three years ago — but rarely starts big games.
Spain lacked penetration from their wide players against Germany in the semi, and Del Castillo came on to assist Aitana Bonmati's equaliser.
She's a more direct option than Claudia Pina, who can feel somewhat unlucky to drop to the bench.
Pina has offered more in the final third than Mariona Caldentey, who will presumably switch from the right to the left, where she's more comfortable.
As Nancy says, it's a big call for Sarina Wiegman to bring Jess Carter back in.
She struggled at left-back against France in the opener, recovered when used at centre-back for the next group games, but then had a very difficult start to the game against Sweden.
It wasn't a surprise when Esme Morgan came in for her against Italy, and she fared well, particularly in the latter stages with her speed useful for sweeping up.
It's a great show of faith in Carter, who is presumably back in as centre-back, with Alex Greenwood left-back.
But you never know…
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…but that's why England hired her, and why she has brought success to the Lionesses.
Esme Morgan can feel unfortunate that she has not been able to retain her starting place, with Jess Carter returning in defence, while impact sub Chloe Kelly might feel she had earned a shot from the start of this final.
Nevertheless, we know Wiegman likes to minimise changes to the starting team and so we return to a pretty familiar looking line-up.
She was England's hero in the quarter-finals with a goal in normal time and the winning penalty in the shoot-out against Sweden, but Lucy Bronze has been a Lionesses legend for a long time.
To prove that point, tonight's start is the right-back's 36th major tournament (World Cup or European Championship) appearance for her country, which puts her clear of the previous record, held by Jill Scott for the most for the Lionesses.
And she's as important as ever for this team with a direct involvement in seven goals (four goals, three assists) this year, her best ever for England, at the age of 33.
Could she add another today?
Let's take a look.
England: Keating (GK), Moorhouse (GK); Charles, Le Tissier, Morgan, Wubben-Moy, Clinton, Park, Mead, Kelly, Agyemang, Beever-Jones.
Spain: Sullastres (GK), Nanclares (GK); Fernandez, Mendez, Ouahabi, Lopez, Paralluelo, Pina, Zubieta, Martin-Prieto, Garcia, Redondo.