In the Euro 2024 semifinals, Spain is the clear favorite, but they will need to contain Kylian Mbappe, which won't be simple.

In the Euro 2024 semifinals, two of the most dominant teams in international football recently square off tonight. Yes, France vs. Spain! 2010 World Cup champions Spain, who is widely favored to win the current edition, has won the competition three times: in 2008 and 2012, and in 1964 before that. They are ranked equal with Germany, whom they eliminated in the quarterfinals, despite Germany's advantage of home crowd support and familiarity with the venue.

To be honest, Spain has been the side to beat in every tournament thus far. They defeated Croatia, the runners-up in the 2018 World Cup, 3-0 in their opening group match before defeating Italy, the reigning champion, and Albania. They defeated a confident Georgia team that had defeated Portugal in a group match in their Round of 16 matchup. However, they faced their greatest test to date on Friday against Germany, which they easily passed. 

After Florian Wirtz's goal one minute from time pulled the home team back into the match at the MHPArena in Stuttgart, they looked to be heading straight to the semifinals. Because of the high caliber of football played throughout the match, which was practically a classic, Spain maintained excellent control over the course of the match. Many thought the match was over when Dani Olmo's goal in the 51st minute, which was assisted by teenage sensation Lamine Yamal, gave them the lead. But Germany and Wirtz had other plans.

Understandably exhausted following such an intense 90 minutes, most teams are likely to give up and accept that it was probably not their day. One such example is Slovakia, who went from making it to the quarterfinals to losing the competition in a matter of seconds. With just 86 seconds remaining, they led by one goal, but two rapid goals from Jude Bellingham in stoppage time and Harry Kane in extra time completely reversed the score, eliminating Slovakia.

However, Slovakia is not Spain. Wirtz's goal was a huge heartbreaker, but they bounced back quickly, kept fighting, and were rewarded with a header from Mikel Marino in the last seconds of extra time, securing their spot in the round of four. Ignore Spain's prior tournament victories; their performance alone is worthy of the trophy. That idea would be purchased by many.