"Rice absolutely had to stop Leo there, no matter what. But I'm a little worried about where this free kick is."
"Over the past few Premier League seasons, Leo has averaged around ten free-kick goals a season. You might occasionally see someone score ten free kicks in a single Premier League season, but to do it for four or five straight seasons? More than ten every year? There's only one player who's done that. Leo."
"We all know Trippier is excellent from free kicks because of his technique. Now let's see what Lin does with this one."
Some of Spain's players initially tried to position themselves in a way that would split England's wall, but the referee immediately stopped them. That method was no longer allowed.
"It's fine. Just line up normally and spread out a little. I need a clear view of the goalkeeper."
Leo told his teammates to leave more space between themselves because he wanted to see Pickford.
The distance was too great for Leo to clearly make out Pickford's eyes.
But Leo knew a top goalkeeper's vision was excellent. Pickford would definitely be watching his eyes.
And that was exactly what Leo wanted.
He wanted Pickford to study his gaze, his body shape, every tiny movement he made before striking the free kick.
A goalkeeper at Pickford's level would naturally use those clues to anticipate the shot.
Once the wall was set, Leo began his run-up.
First, he looked toward the right post.
Then his eyes shifted toward the left.
His expression sharpened, and even the angle of his approach began drifting left.
Just as he expected, Pickford began moving that way.
Then Leo shaped to shoot.
But the ball that left his foot was soft and weak.
A mistake?
That thought barely lasted a second in anyone's mind.
Leo making a mistake?
Leo mis-hitting a free kick?
The fans had never seen it happen in all these years.
Leo had meant to pass.
The ball rolled to Busquets.
England immediately realized they had been fooled. The wall broke apart, and every player who had been standing in it rushed toward Busquets.
Pickford quickly recovered toward the center of his goal and reset himself for another save.
But Busquets responded with an experienced V-shaped pull-back, dragging the ball behind himself before releasing the pass.
He fooled every England player who had charged toward him.
By then, England's wall was gone.
And somehow, Leo was still unmarked.
From almost the exact same position, he now had a clear shot without the wall in front of him.
Pickford read the direction correctly.
But this time, nobody was closing Leo down, allowing him to make full use of his technique.
Leo struck the ball with full power while adding only the slightest amount of spin.
He didn't want much.
Just enough to make what looked like a straight shot bend ever so slightly.
That was all he needed.
Pickford initially thought he had it covered.
Then that tiny bit of spin changed the ball's path just enough to take it beyond his reach.
The ball flew into England's goal as though Leo had guided it there himself.
"Spain score first!"
"Lin opens the scoring in the UEFA European Championship final!"
"In the 20th minute, Leo Lin scores from a rehearsed free-kick routine!"
"We thought he was going to shoot directly. He did shoot in the end, but not from the first touch. Busquets provides the assist!"
"Spain's veterans still have plenty left in them. Busquets has been excellent so far, and Alba hasn't given Saka any room to work with either!"
"This goal could make things even harder for an England side that was already struggling. How are they going to find an equalizer?"
"This is Spain. A Spain side that hasn't trailed for a single minute in this entire UEFA European Championship!"
Gullit had just pointed out one of Spain's most frightening statistics.
From the opening match of the tournament all the way to the final, Spain had never fallen behind.
Not even for a single minute.
"Go look through the history of the UEFA European Championship and you'll understand just how incredible that is."
"To make it from the first group-stage match all the way to the final without trailing for even one minute is terrifying."
Busquets wrapped his arms around Leo without saying anything.
But Leo clearly saw a tear at the corner of his eye.
"It's not time to cry yet, Busquets. You've played in plenty of major tournaments. Stay composed."
Leo reminded him, though Busquets himself couldn't quite explain why he felt so emotional.
He had played in FIFA World Cups and UEFA European Championships before, yet he had never felt anything quite like this.
Maybe it was because he knew his level had declined, and there was a very real chance he would leave the national team after this tournament.
Yet Hierro had still trusted him enough to put him back into the starting lineup for the final.
For Busquets, it felt as though football might be slowly leaving him behind, but somehow, it still hadn't stopped loving him.
[As a Spain supporter, I'm incredibly proud. We've managed to make teams as strong as France and England look helpless at times in this tournament. Whatever happens now, we've already achieved something.]
[You know what the scariest part is? Four years from now, maybe even eight years from now, Lin will still be playing at the FIFA World Cup. And he'll still be wearing the captain's armband for Spain.]
[Come on, Busquets. Keep fighting!]
Scholes felt that Leo's goal was almost like a demonstration for Trippier.
As play resumed, Leo continued putting his technique on display.
This time, he dropped into the defensive midfield role while Rodri pushed forward into central midfield.
Leo had spent plenty of time playing as a defensive midfielder already, but now it was almost as if he were demonstrating Rice's strengths as well.
The 26th minute.
Leo dropped all the way back beside De Gea to receive the ball, then boldly clipped it out toward Alba.
Alba immediately moved it on to Busquets.
Both Alba and Busquets were perfectly comfortable with this kind of football from Leo.
After all, both of them had experienced Barcelona at their peak.
Busquets turned with the ball and pushed a pass into Rodri.
Henderson started to close him down, but Rodri immediately laid it back to Leo.
Leo had already returned to exactly the position a defensive midfielder should occupy.
From there, he switched the ball toward Gaya and helped Spain maintain complete control of their buildup from the back.
Then, one after another, qualities that belonged to England's own players began appearing at Leo's feet.
Foden's close control and dribbling.
Henderson's hard, aggressive interceptions.
Even Kane's curling passes.
Again and again, Leo reproduced them all.
England still couldn't disrupt Spain's rhythm.
Worse, they couldn't establish any rhythm of their own.
"If England keep playing like this, they have no chance."
"I can see almost every England player's strengths somewhere in Lin's game."
"But there isn't a single England player who has what Lin has."