Seconds after Mikel Oyarzabal scored the decisive 2-1 in the 86th minute, Spain’s substitutes began to remove their bibs, ready to take to the field dressed in red when the referee signalled that the Henri Delaunay Cup was Spain’s once again, the fourth, more than any other team. When Unai Simón made the save that ended with Dani Olmo’s save on the line, no one was left wearing a bib. “That save should count as another goal,” the goalkeeper’s father claimed at the Grand Hyatt hotel, as the champions arrived. Unai Simón had promised his father the shirt; his mother, the medal. “This is the first game he has seen me. Because of nerves, I never watched them,” said the number 23.
By then, Álvaro Morata had already lifted the cup. More excited than euphoric, the captain walked around the pitch at the Berlin Olympic Stadium as he did every day in Donaueschingen: paying attention to everything. “All the technical staff congratulated me on the son I have,” said Alfonso Morata, father of the number 7, in the Cope. The striker, in tears, added: “I feel like the luckiest person in the world.” He had freed himself from the pressure, as well as from the emotional storm of the last few months. “Iniesta and Bojan have helped me a lot,” he said. And he continued to observe everything that was happening around him. He even had time to talk to Lamine Yamal’s father.
“The only thing missing was a goal in the final. I couldn’t be more proud of my son,” said his father, Mounir. He wasn’t wearing his son’s shirt, but another one he had designed for the final, with the number 304, a tribute to the postcode of his neighbourhood, Rocafonda, the number with which his son celebrates his goals. Lamine took the opportunity to take photos with his younger brother and his girlfriend on the grass. He didn’t stop. She, more tired, was waiting for him sitting with some friends on the floor of the Grand Hyatt reception.
Earlier, Lamine had already been celebrating and dancing with his other “brother”: Nico Williams. “Lamine has no limits,” said the Athletic forward. The MVP of the final recalled his upbringing: “My parents have suffered a lot to get here. They have instilled in me incredible respect and loyalty. Footballers have a huge impact on society.” His entire family was in Berlin. His parents, less inhibited, and his brother, Iñaki, more discreet, were waiting for him at the hotel. “The protagonist is Nico,” he commented to those around him.
There were few Spanish footballers more unbridled than Carvajal in the celebrations. The Madrid full-back even threw down one of the safety railings to go and celebrate with the Spanish fans, a minority (around 15,000) who were no less silent than the English crowd (around 45,000 in Berlin). His children could not resist sleeping to wait for their father at the hotel. On the other hand, his nephews, Joselu’s children, were excited, dressed in their father’s shirts and with the Euro teddy bear as a souvenir.
The most enthusiastic ones were there – Ferran, Cucurella, Grimaldo -, the more relaxed ones – Merino, Oyarzabal, Raya -, and there were also those who remembered the past. “The generations of the past have paved the way for us,” said Rodri, the tournament’s MVP, still on the pitch. At that moment, the Cup had already disappeared from sight in the stadium.
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