Matt Maher: England left to regret the key moments of final

When the clock hit 85 minutes at Berlin’s Olympiastadion with England and Spain locked together at 1-1, it was still a match which could go either way. All either team needed was a moment.

It was Spain who found it. Marc Cucurella crossed low, Mikel Oyarzabal stole in front of Marc Guehi and turned the ball beyond Jordan Pickford to put his side 2-1 up.

Around four minutes later, came England’s chance. Declan Rice arrived to meet Cole Palmer’s corner, Unai Simon parried his header, Guehi sent the ball back toward goal where Dani Olmo headed it away once more. Rice, racing to reset his feet, sent his second header looping off target and with that, effectively, went England’s chances of ending 58 years of hurt.

So close. Gareth Southgate and his players, who returned home from Germany yesterday, will spend the next few days, weeks, if not months replaying those minutes, wondering what, if anything, they could or should have done differently?

Such are the fine margins between glory and failure. In many ways, it felt an appropriate finish for an England team who spent most of the tournament living on the edge.

Through the knockout stages, theirs was often a stomach-churning highwire act. It required Jude Bellingham’s extraordinary overhead kick against Slovakia to ensure they did not fall in the last-16. There was a further wobble against Switzerland, while the Netherlands were beaten courtesy of Ollie Watkins’ last-minute winner.

For all the fanfare, all the celebration of reaching a second major tournament final in three years, you went into it in the knowledge – if not quite the expectation – England might stumble before the finish.

Ultimately, there was too much wrong with their team, just as there was too much right with their opponents.

Spain more than lived up to their billing as pre-match favourites. Luis de La Fuente’s players might have put their supporters through the wringer but on another night, with better finishing and without the reflexes of Jordan Pickford, they would have won far more comfortably.

England spent much of the night clinging on, searching for the kind of moment which had saved them in previous rounds.

They found one, when Palmer coolly slotted home to cancel out Nico Williams’ opener. Asking for another after Oyarzabal had restored Spain’s advantage always felt a bit too much. Finally, here was one hole from which not even England could escape.