Sexy football is back! England must take inspiration from brave Spain's Euro 2024 triumph when preparing for 2026 World Cup

Right from the outset, Spain have been the footballing story of the tournament. Their opener against Croatia marked an extremely significant moment for a nation that has worshipped at the altar of tiki-taka for the best part of two decades.

In their maiden outing at Euro 2024, De la Fuente's charges registered a lower share of the possession than their opponents for the first time in 136 matches. All the hallmarks that would go on to make this Spain side special were present in that encounter.

Flying wingers Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal were unplayable for significant spells, adding a refreshing directness to proceedings that had been lacking under Luis Enrique. Rodri was coolness personified and complemented nicely by the tidy-but-expansive Fabian Ruiz and pass-master Pedri. Alvaro Morata, not always universally appreciated, played his part as the selfless, nuisance centre-forward too.

Their performance earned them plenty of admirers, as well as a 3-0 win. There was much more success to come, too.

Spain completed the group stage with a 100 percet winning record, first downing Italy in the most one-sided 1-0 victory of all time, before a much-rotated side beat Albania by the same scoreline. This set up a last-16 meeting with Georgia.

The minnows would take the lead thanks to a Robin Le Normand own goal, though four different scorers ensured that there would be no repeat of Spain's shock World Cup elimination at the hands of Morocco. The attacking fluency they showed that day was quite incredible, with a 76% share of possession resulting in 35 shots on goal.

Germany in the quarter-finals presented a more intimidating challenge, but they found a way as La Roja's marvellous midfield trio showcased their talents. Substitute Mikel Merino was the hero, grabbing the extra-time winner, but early sub Dani Olmo, Rodri and Fabian were all sensational, pressing as a unit and using the ball positively to help send one of the favourites out.

France were slain next, in what will go down in history as Lamine Yamal's coming-out party to the world. The teenager scored a world-class equaliser before Olmo provided his own moment of magic to settle proceedings and book a place in the final.

Spain were heavy favourites against England and, after edging the first half, began to carve open their opponents after the interval. Williams found the breakthrough inside two second-half minutes, and if it wasn't for some lame finishing and Jordan Pickford's heroics between the sticks, the game would've been over before Cole Palmer equalised with an exquisite strike.

As it turned out, though, this was simply a pothole on Spain's procession to the title. Four minutes from time, Mikel Oyarzabal finished off a typically incisive counter-attack to ensure football came home - to Spain, that is.

When you look back at their run to the title, it's impossible to not be seriously impressed. Placed in a tricky group and then on the difficult side of the draw, Spain still managed to become the first team to win seven games at a European Championship.

This wasn't solely a triumph of results, though. Spain's feat is made all the more noteworthy by just how watchable they've been. Free-flowing, full of energy out of possession and capable of keeping hold of the ball with relative ease when they need, they've looked like an elite club side in a sea of relative dysfunction this tournament.

Their bravery and confidence has been eye-catching, too. Only Portugal averaged more progressive carries per 90 minutes at Euro 2024, and they also made the top four for take-ons attempted, carries into the final third and progressive passes.

Witnessing the best footballing team of the tournament lift the trophy has also challenged the orthodoxy of recent international tournaments. At Euro 2016, Portugal quite frankly stunk up the place going forward, before clutching a dramatic final victory against France.

Didier Deschamps' side have hardly been entertainers themselves, either. Considering the insane talent at Les Bleus' disposal, the amount of eye-catching displays they've treated us to over the past eight years is staggeringly low, with solidity being prioritised above all else. Even at the most-recent World Cup, Lionel Scaloni's victorious Argentina were shocked by Saudi Arabia in the opening game and were far from convincing during the knockout stages, relying on grit and determination to get the job done.

These case studies have resulted in a widely-held belief that in order to triumph at tournaments, you need to adopt a safety-first approach. England boss Gareth Southgate certainly subscribed to this particular truth, especially after their World Cup exit in 2022. In Qatar, the Three Lions played the most entertaining football of his reign, only to crash out in the quarter-finals.

Scarred from that experience, he largely opted to revert to type by keeping things safer this tournament, instructing his charges to remain compact before counting on substitutions or individual moments of xG-defying magic to win games. Reaching the final might suggest his methods have been vindicated, but playing in this way means you must be pretty much spotless defensively or exceedingly lucky. They were neither in Berlin.

When this conservative style does not bring the desired result, it's fair that questions are asked over whether a different approach in the months following Qatar should have been adopted, particularly when so many attacking players - who have been so effective for their clubs - underperform dramatically.

To be clear, this isn't a case of just sticking a load of attacking players on the pitch in the final. It's more a question of whether Southgate should have backed his squad to be more free-flowing and let the shackles off in the months leading into the tournament.

Rio Ferdinand summed up this feeling neatly on the BBC in the wake of the final. "We said after the group stages, if you’re going to play the conservative side of things with the amount of talent we have in this squad, you have to win," he began. "Otherwise it will come down to it being absolutely dissected and looked at as being a negative approach. That falls on the manager’s toes. He sets this team out in a particular way to play. That’s his style of football and you have to win playing like that because these players are too good."

Ian Wright, talking on ITV, concurred, saying: "No one can tell me we haven't got the players to play. We've got Bellingham, Foden, Mainoo and Palmer. And Saka. We have the players to actually do this."

Despite these frustrations, it goes without saying that Southgate will go down as one of England's greatest-ever managers. Back-to-back European finals seemed decades away when he took over in the wake of the Sam Allardyce scandal, and his handling of the 'political' and environment-building facets of the job deserve immense credit.

However, after an ultimately underwhelming tournament in a tactical sense, it always felt like the end of the line, and Southgate confirmed his decision to resign on Tuesday. When making the decision on who replaces the outgoing boss, they'd do well to take a few lessons from this glorious Spain side, as they did back in 2014 when formulating the England DNA blueprint.

Perhaps, international football is changing. Maybe the pragmatists' days are done. Sexy football is back in and England definitely have the players to win - and do it while looking good - when the World Cup heads to North America in two years time.