England star branded ‘useless’ by Netherlands hero after Euro 2024 final defeat | Football

Spain won the European Championship for a record-breaking fourth time after Mikel Oyarzabal’s goal in the 86th minute sealed a 2-1 win for Luis de la Fuente’s side in Berlin.

Rice started alongside Kobbie Mainoo in central midfield, but the English duo often found themselves overran by their Spanish counterparts who dominated possession for large swathes of the game.

The Three Lions had just 34 per cent possession on the night and, despite the early withdrawal of influential opposition midfielder Rodri, failed to hang with Spain in the middle of the park.

Rice started every game of the tournament for Gareth Southgate’s side in Germany but failed to regularly reach the levels of performance seen during his maiden campaign at Arsenal last season.

And after Sunday’s final, the 25-year-old came under fire from former Spurs and Dutch midfielder Van der Vaart who was less than impressed with the Englishman’s display.

Speaking on Dutch TV channel NOS he said: ‘£100M for Declan Rice… what does he do?

‘He comes to collect a ball only to pass it back to John Stones.

‘He is useless. If you are truly worth £100m, then you should be able to play a ball forward.’

Southgate, meanwhile, conceded after the game that England’s inability to hold onto the ball cost them as the game wore on.

‘Tonight we fell short, we didn’t keep the ball well enough. We actually defended well in the first half in particular, limited their possibilities, but we couldn’t play through the counter press well enough,’ he said.

‘We actually didn’t really use the ball well until we were a goal down, then we had a decent period in the game.

‘We got the equaliser but I think the physical toll of the issues we came into the tournament with, the extra-time periods and then tonight, having as little of the ball as we did, ultimately that took a big toll.’

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