The Almería-born central midfielder made history by winning the European Championship and Olympic gold in under two months
Álex Baena made history this summer with the Spain national team. The Almería-born central midfielder lifted the European Championship and won gold in just over a month. A historic feat that he shares with one other player – Fermín López, his teammate in the national team.
His fantastic season at Villarreal CF saw him record the highest number of assists in the LALIGA season, before being alled up by Luis de la Fuente for the provisional 26-man squad for the European Championship.
After the end of the season, the Yellows player earned himself a place in the final La Roja squad for EURO 2024 in Germany. He was part of the historic side, led by Luis de la Fuente, that lifted the continental title in Berlín.
Baena featured in the matches against Italy and Albania, playing 19 and six minutes in each respective fixture, as Spain advanced from the group stage with three wins out of three.
During the tournament, he earned another call up, this time from the Olympics national team coach Santi Denia, for the squad preparing to travel to París for the 2024 Olympic Games. Baena did not feature in any of the remaining games in Germany.
After celebrating victory in Berlin with the rest of his teammates, Baena travelled just hours later to París to meet up with the Olympics squad ahead of the start of the tournament.
Over the course of the tournament in France, Baena stood out as one of the main leaders in Santi Denia’s side. He started in Spain’s victories against Uzbekistan (1-2), Dominican Republic (1-3), Japan (0-3), Morocco (1-2) and then France (2-4) in an unforgettable final. The Villarreal midfielder consistently drove the Olympics team forward. He scored twice – one of which was in the final – and registered one assist in the five matches he played.
