Albania vs Spain live updates: Euro 2024 match team news ...

It is a beautiful, hot day in Dusseldorf ahead of a dry evening. As usual, we'll have all the big updates from the game with our reporters in the stadium and contributors watching on from Germany and elsewhere — we’ve got loads of them on the way tonight too!

AND we want to hear from you.

It’s really simple to do that. You can also get involved using our Discuss tab at the top of this feed or even easier, you can click here.

We’ll be popping in ourselves and may even ask some questions of you all, as well as picking out the best of your responses to add in here for our collective enjoyment.

So, happy commenting. Liberal and creative use of emojis encouraged.

Hello and welcome again to our live coverage on day 11 of Euro 2024 — and specifically, the conclusion of Group B.

It’s Michael Bailey here, bringing you all the build-up from Dusseldorf as already-qualified Spain take on Albania.

We’ll also keep you up to date with all the permutations with Croatia vs Italy taking place at the same time in Leipzig — and you can follow that one live with us and the wonderful Max Mathews right here.

So don’t go anywhere. We’ve got you covered.

Albania’s largest margin of defeat in a competitive game came at the hands of Spain in a European Championship qualifier in December 1990.

They were on the receiving end of a 9-0 thrashing.

Spain defender Aymeric Laporte faced the media ahead of today's game and he was in a bullish mood.

"We played against very strong teams, and they were difficult games," he said. "But we have shown how to be, and know how to play against strong teams.

"We are ready to win a competition like this."

Pedri made his 12th appearance at a major tournament in the 1-0 win against Italy, drawing level with Cristiano Ronaldo’s record for most appearances at the European Championship and World Cup by a player 21 years of age or under.

That record will be broken if the Barcelona midfielder is involved in today's game.

Spain have won eight out of eight of their previous matches with Albania, scoring 31 times and conceding just three goals — that is Spain’s best record against any nation.

Although, the Albanians might take some solace from the fact their opponents have already won Group B with a game to spare and are certain to rest key players.

Albania have plenty of reasons to be cheerful; they scored the fastest goal in the history of the competition in their opening game against Italy and were only narrowly defeated by the competition’s holders.

In the second match, they earned a draw after drawing level deep into stoppage time against Croatia. Not bad going for a minnow drawn in the group of death.

He scored six of the opening 59 goals of the tournament (and he’s had one taken back).

Yes, Own Goal is tearing away at the top of the Euro 2024 scoring charts.

The Athletic's Tim Spiers breaks down his goals and declares four of them classics of the genre — check it out below

GO FURTHER

Celebrating Own Goal, Euro 2024’s leading goalscorer

Luis de la Fuente cut a relaxed figure in his pre-match press conference with his side guaranteed as Group B winners, so he tapped into his philosophical side.

"For me, success is the result of a lot of work and dedication, but success is also about the journey," he said. "Work, dedication, effort, sacrifice. And if you give everything, you never fail."

Albania manager Sylvinho was in a good mood in the build up to this game.

He took real pride in his comments about his side still being in contention for the knockouts despite being written off before a ball was kicked.

"I’m so happy that we are still competing to get through the group stage," he said. "Almost no one believed we would be able to compete. Some people were thinking that we would concede three or four goals in each match, but here we are, still in the tournament."

This is something truly special. Our correspondents and data experts here at The Athletic have pulled together our Euro 2024 edition of The Radar.

It’s a database of the 50 players to watch at this summer’s tournament, with at least one representative from each of the 24 nations competing in Germany.

There are established stars and rising talents, bespoke data visualisation for every player and magnificent insight from our writers.

And it will last far longer as a resource than some of the countries competing in Germany. So go give it a visit, have a play and see what you discover.

GO FURTHER

The Radar – The Athletic’s Euro 2024 scouting guide

Manager: Sylvinho

Captain: Berat Djimsiti

Qualifying record: P8, W4, D3, L1, GF12, GA4

Euro 2020: Did not qualify

Most caps in squad: Elseid Hysaj (84)

Top scorer in squad: Rey Manaj (7)

Manager: Luis de la Fuente

Captain: Alvaro Morata

Qualifying record: P8, W7, D0, L1, GF25, GA5

Euro 2020: Semi-finals

Most caps in squad: Alvaro Morata (75)

Top scorer in squad: Alvaro Morata (36)

There will be two rest days between the end of the group stage and the start of the knockout stage. The Round of 16 begins on Saturday, June 29 with two matches.

Here is a full breakdown of the knockout-stage dates:

The top two teams in each of the six groups qualify automatically for the knockout stage.

Teams finishing first will face one of the group-stage runners up or a third-place team in the last 16. Those finishing second will face one of the group winners or another of the runners up in the last 16.

As there will be six each of group winners and runners up, it leaves four spots to be filled. And those will be taken by four of the six teams that finish third.

Of the six third-place teams, the four with the most points will advance to the last 16. In the event of a tie on points, the following factors will be used to determine which team advances:

As mentioned, Spain are already through as Group A winners with Italy three points behind them.

Albania and Croatia have a point apiece so both need a victory to have any chance of making the knockouts.

Group B takes centre stage at Euro 2024 today.

Spain are already through but will become the first team to win all of their group-stage matches with a third victory. Italy will expect to follow them through but face a stern Croatian test in Leipzig.

Here is the line-up:

The first group of Euro 2024 was concluded yesterday as the curtain was brought down on Group A.

Germany avoided a shock against Switzerland equalised late through Niclas Fullkrug to secure their place as group winners ahead of the Swiss in second.

In the other match, Hungary could not have left it any later to beat Scotland 1-0, eliminating Steve Clarke's side in the process. The result was somewhat overshadowed by a serious injury suffered by Hungary's Barnabas Varga, but it was later confirmed that he was stable in hospital following a collision with Scotland's Angus Gunn.

GO FURTHER

Euro 2024 day 10: Hungary’s Varga stable in hospital, Germany’s winning run ended