Spain search for answers after coming up short at Women's Euros

Entering the tournaments as favourites, many expected Spain to add the Women's Euro crown to their world and Nations League titles, but an agonising loss to England in a penalty shootout on Sunday has left them searching for answers after dominating the game. 

Coming into the final on the back of five straight victories, Spain seemed to be able to find the solution to every problem they were confronted with, but they could not find a way to break the English resolve as the game finished 1-1 after extra time, eventually losing 3-1 on penalties.

Such was Spain's dominance in most of their matches at the Euros that it usually seemed like only a matter of time before they would find a way through, and they scored after 25 minutes against England. 

Once Alessia Russo equalised, however, the Spaniards stuttered until extra time where they again took over, without ever finding the goal they needed to kill the game off. 

"England were a team who contested a lot of second balls and we weren’t winning them, which caused us to struggle a bit," Spain coach Montse Tome said.

"During extra time we managed to get the ball again and create attacking chances, but it wasn’t enough to avoid penalties."

Warning signs could be seen in Spain's group games, where they conceded sloppy goals to Belgium and Italy, and through they scored 14 times in their three matches, their attack looked ponderous for long spells as they controlled possession without really threatening. 

They beat hosts Switzerland in the last eight without ever really getting going, and it took a 113th-minute goal from Aitana Bonmati to get them past Germany in the semi-final in a victory that was comfortable without being convincing.

The five teams Spain met in the run-up set the