Kiera Walsh insists Spain 'deserve' to enjoy Euro 2025 final without 'controversy' of World Cup

Keira Walsh believes rivals Spain deserve to enjoy the Euro 2025 final after their World Cup victory was marred by the controversy surrounding Luis Rubiales and the RFEF.

England will meet Spain once again on Sunday having lost 1-0 to them in the World Cup final in Australia in 2023 as a result of Olga Carmona’s strike.

While it marked a first major trophy for La Roja, their celebrations were disrupted after Luis Rubiales kissed striker Jenni Hermoso without consent, leading to a conviction of sexual assault.

Contrary to the players’ hopes, the victory in 2023 did not have the same impact in Spain as the Lionesses’ Euro 2022 win had in England a year before.

“There’s a lot of respect between both the teams. The most important thing for them is that they can enjoy this final, there’s not the controversy surrounding it,” said Walsh.

“The girls deserve to be there, they deserve it. So first and foremost, as human beings they can actually just go out and enjoy themselves.

“I don’t think there was enough spotlight on how incredible they played and how incredible some of them were.

“It was all about the other stuff that had gone on and as a professional, that was disappointing to see. I have a lot of friends in that team, and they deserved more than what they got.”

Walsh was playing her domestic football in Spain at the time of the World Cup final, coming up against many of her Barcelona teammates in the clash.

Having sandwiched her time with the Spanish giants between spells at Manchester City and Chelsea, she saw firsthand the differences in uptake following England’s international success and Spain’s.

“Experiencing what it was like in Spain, they could have had more,” added Walsh.

“The way [the WSL] jumped after we won the