Spain hold final training session at Juan Antonio Samaranch

On 30 June, Spain opened the doors of the Juan Antonio Samaranch training ground to the public. It was their first training session at the facility. Their first day in Lausanne. The beginning of a dream. Today, twenty-six days later, the team steps onto the pitch of this sports complex for the final time – a place where they’ve trained many mornings and afternoons, and where they have felt at home throughout.

Today marks the final training session before the squad travel tomorrow to Basel for Sunday’s grand final. It will be their final stop in Switzerland after visiting Bern, Thun, and Zurich – always previously returning victorious to their base, the Juan Antonio Samaranch facility in Lausanne. The team have now completed one final training session, one as serious, tough, and intense as all those that have hitherto got them this far. Montse Tomé and her coaching staff prepared today’s session, following yesterday’s rest day after the semi-final victory over Germany, with one clear objective in mind. With 48 hours to go until the final, both body and mind must be fully prepared. England await, and the full focus is now on the grand final.

The 23 internationals trained with the same enthusiasm as on that first day, fully aware that their efforts and hard work have paid off in taking the team all the way to the climactic match of the Euros – the final – and giving them the opportunity to secure the treble by adding the only title they have yet to win.

The squad trained in two groups, beginning with recovery work during the first phase of the session, before all 23 players all took to the training pitch. The session was marked by intensity – in drills both with and without the ball – focusing on some tactical aspects in preparation for the opposition and improving technical and physical elements in order to arrive in the best possible condition for a dream fixture first envisaged on 30 June, when they stepped into these facilities for the first time.

It is emotional to look back and reflect on the hours, work, effort, hope, consistency, sacrifice, perseverance, and preparation that will forever remain in the memory of this football pitch, the stands, the dressing room… The Juan Antonio Samaranch training ground will forever be with us – a witness to the preparation for a dream and the fight to achieve it, as well as the journey in between. Farewell and thank you, Juan Antonio Samaranch! Basel, here we come!