Kiera Walsh insists Spain 'deserve' to enjoy Euro 2025 final without 'controversy' of World Cup

Keira Walsh believes rivals Spain deserve to enjoy the Euro 2025 final after their World Cup victory was marred by the controversy surrounding Luis Rubiales and the RFEF.

England will meet Spain once again on Sunday having lost 1-0 to them in the World Cup final in Australia in 2023 as a result of Olga Carmona’s strike.

While it marked a first major trophy for La Roja, their celebrations were disrupted after Luis Rubiales kissed striker Jenni Hermoso without consent, leading to a conviction of sexual assault.

READ MORE: Son Heung-min concern, his Thomas Frank chat and five things you may have missed in Tottenham game

READ MORE: Mikel Arteta will love what Noni Madueke was doing during Arsenal vs AC Milan friendly

Contrary to the players’ hopes, the victory in 2023 did not have the same impact in Spain as the Lionesses’ Euro 2022 win had in England a year before.

“There’s a lot of respect between both the teams. The most important thing for them is that they can enjoy this final, there’s not the controversy surrounding it,” said Walsh.

“The girls deserve to be there, they deserve it. So first and foremost, as human beings they can actually just go out and enjoy themselves.

“I don’t think there was enough spotlight on how incredible they played and how incredible some of them were.

“It was all about the other stuff that had gone on and as a professional, that was disappointing to see. I have a lot of friends in that team, and they deserved more than what they got.”

Walsh was playing her domestic football in Spain at the time of the World Cup final, coming up against many of her Barcelona teammates in the clash.

Having sandwiched her time with the Spanish giants between spells at Manchester City and Chelsea, she saw firsthand the differences in uptake following England’s international success and Spain’s.

“Experiencing what it was like in Spain, they could have had more,” added Walsh.

“The way [the WSL] jumped after we won the Euros and everything around it, if you compare it to Spain, it probably wasn’t the same and they had won the World Cup.”

Her links with the Blaugrana mean she will once more come up against familiar opposition in Basel when England face Spain at St. Jakob Arena with a second consecutive European title up for grabs.

“I speak to Jana Fernandez a lot, we’re good friends, and obviously I’ve got a few friends from Barcelona as well,” she said.

“She was just texting me and saying about our last two games. She said that she’s happy for us that we’re in the final and said there’s a lot of respect between the two teams.

“Moving abroad is difficult because you are on your own. I think that’s why I’ve got so many good friends on the Spanish team because they’ve always looked after me.

“Irene Paredes always invited me round for dinner with her family and when I wasn’t feeling great, I was with Mariona. All those girls really, really spent time to take care of me.”

But while the good feeling remains towards her former teammates, on Sunday all that will be set aside as attention focuses solely on how to beat Spain.

“It is a rivalry. There’s respect between the two teams and they play incredible football, and we know that we do on our day as well,” said Walsh.

“It’s going to be a great game and hopefully it’s a good one for the fans to watch. After the game, we’ll go back to being friends, but right now we’re rivals.”

And while that rivalry has been put the test in the Nations League twice in 2025, with a win apiece, tournament football brings a new dynamic that both sides have shown they are capable of handling.

While the Lionesses have earned a reputation for never giving up, twice coming from behind to win after extra time or penalties, Spain also proved their mettle with 1-0 extra-time victory against Germany.

“We’ve not given up in any game, so that’s the message we’ve been sending,” said Walsh.

“But also, Spain are an incredible team and we’ve played them many times and we know what their strengths are.

“It’s going to be a difficult game and obviously they went to extra time last night and won, so they’ve proved that they can also do the same.”