Dani Carvajal was forced to miss some of Spain’s Euro 2024 celebrations after their victory over England on Sunday night.
Spain won the European Championship for the fourth time in a row, thanks to Mikel Oyarzabal’s goal in the 86th minute that completed a 2-1 victory.
Cole Palmer scored a brilliant equalizer for England after Nico Williams put Spain ahead early in the second half, but even Gareth Southgate said after the game that his squad had been defeated by ‘the finest team in the competition’.
Carvajal, meanwhile, was the villain for England in the first half, avoiding a yellow card for halting a potential counterattack led by Bukayo Saka.
After pulling Saka to the ground, Carvajal turned to face the Arsenal winger and made a crying gesture following England’s complaints about the foul.
However, Carvajal did not have a completely smooth evening following Spain’s victory after he was collared by doping control.
Players can be randomly selected for testing at any point and Carvajal was forced to cut off the celebrations with his teammates until after he had provided a urine sample.
‘I have had doping here at UEFA… doping in the final, please take it away because you miss a lot of things,’ Carvajal told Mundo Deportivo.
‘Now let’s go to the hotel and let’s see, I’m going to celebrate, I’m not going to deceive you, I’m already going on vacation, so tomorrow you’ll see.’
In a touching moment after the game, Jude Belligham, who plays alongside Carvajal for Real Madrid, was seen greeting the Spain defender’s two young children as well as his club teammate.
Elsewhere, Spain midfielder Rodri was named the UEFA Euro 2024 Player of the Tournament.
‘This is probably the best day of my career,’ Rodri said.
‘We are European champions, as difficult as that is. We have become Europe’s most successful national team.
‘We have made history, beating four former world champions in the process. We got through the toughest draw and it speaks for the mentality of the team.’