Another title for the Spanish clubs? Yet another England vs Spain will take place in European competition this season as Chelsea gear up to face Real Betis in the Conference League final. It’s creating a lot of buzz and excitement, with fans everywhere looking forward to seeing how the match will unfold.
The upcoming Wroclaw showdown will mark the 12th time that clubs from the two nations have met in a major final, and sports betting providers and tipsters have a clear favourite in mind. The latest online sports betting at Bovada odds currently prices the English Premier League side as the -240 betting favourite to reign supreme in Poland, according to online sports betting at Bovada, and it’s a favourite tag they have held all year long.
The Blues are much more accustomed to featuring in the continent’s premier tournament, the UEFA Champions League, winning it as recently as 2021. This year, however, they are way down in the tertiary tournament, and if they are to emerge with the trophy, they will have to do so by overcoming one of European football’s great hoodoos.
Over the 11 previous finals between English and Spanish clubs, the latter have picked up nine victories over the former. That’s a strike rate of over 80%, and Real Betis will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of their predecessors. The bookies currently make Los Verdiblancos a -240 underdog, but with Manchester United loanee Antony in the form of his life, anything is possible.
However, should Betis need some kind of motivation ahead of the upcoming clash, all they need to do is take a look back through the history books.
Champions League
In the UEFA Champions League, Spanish sides hold a five-and-one record against their English counterparts. But perhaps surprisingly, the first of those six clashes ended with an English victory. Liverpool were the team that ultimately reigned supreme, defeating Real Madrid in the 1981 European Cup final thanks to a late winner from Alan Kennedy. That result remains the most recent for a team from England against one from Spain, and it is also the last time Los Blancos lost a European final: they have played in nine since.
Of the five finals between clubs from the two nations in the 44 years since, Spaniards have won all of them. The first of them came in 2006, when Barcelona rallied late to defeat ten-man Arsenal, also in Paris. That triggered a run of three finals between the two countries in five years, with the Catalonians featuring in all of them. The next two came against Manchester United in 2009 and 2011, and with Lionel Messi front and centre, it was the Blaugrana that emerged victorious on both occasions.
Fast forward seven years, and a new rivalry emerged between the two nations, specifically between Liverpool and Real Madrid. The Reds met the Whites twice in the final in four years, and it was the latter that emerged victorious on both occasions. The first triumph came in Kyiv in 2018 when a spectacular brace from Gareth Bale sealed a 3-1 Real victory. Four years later, Vinicius Junior scored the only goal of the game as the side from the Spanish capital reigned supreme, and they did so in the same city they had lost to the Reds in exactly four decades prior.
Europa League
In Europe’s secondary competition, it’s a similar story. Clubs from the two countries have met five times in Europa League/UEFA Cup finals, with Spaniards winning four of them. And just like in the Champions League, the rivalry began with a team from England winning.
The first clash between the two countries came in 2001, and once again, Liverpool flew St. George’s Cross high. They won a 5-4 thriller against Alaves in Dortmund and completed a cup treble. In the 24 years since, no English side has managed to defeat a Spanish opponent.
In 2006, a stacked Sevilla side containing Dani Alves and Luis Fabiano thumped Middlesbrough 4-0 in Eindhoven. Four years later, Fulham’s fairytale run came to a heartbreaking end in Hamburg as Diego Forlan’s brace sealed a 2-1 victory for Atletico Madrid. In 2016, Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool made the final, but they were stunned by a rampant Sevilla, who won 3-1 in Basel.
The most recent clash between the two nations occurred in 2021. Villareal manager Unai Emery was inspired by the woeful treatment from English media and opposition supporters during his stint as Arsenal boss. He duly knocked the Gunners out of the Europa League in the semifinals, before beating Manchester United on penalties in the final.
Elsewhere
Although the UEFA Super Cup isn’t really considered a major trophy, English clubs have fared somewhat better there. Teams from England have met rivals from Spain on eight occasions, winning five of them. But perhaps the most painful defeat of all in contests between the two nations came last summer.
England and Spain met in the final of a major international competition for the first time at last year’s European Championships in Germany. And predictably, the game had the expected outcome. It was La Roja who managed to reign supreme in Berlin thanks to Mikel Oyarzabal’s late winner, prolonging England’s near six decades of hurt.
