English 
Is this the best free tip for the EURO 2024 final?
Never before has the young French referee officiated a really important match.
We covered pretty much the entire European Championship, as far as the card markets were concerned, at least the major matches were always covered separately. This is certainly no different for Sunday’s final, where in one respect the paper is certainly already turning.
In fact, the biggest names on the list of favourites for the judges were the ones that were previously mentioned. Clément Turpin, Daniele Orsato and Szymon Marciniak were the three likely front-runners, although the specialist portals clearly favoured the Italian as the man to crown his career. It would have been a fine farewell for the 48-year-old ski champion, and it would have served him well, but UEFA pulled an unexpectedly bold move.
The 35-year-old Francois Letexier will be the referee for the European Championship final, which has clearly shocked the experts.
It cannot be said that the French had a bad year, in fact! He deserved this match on the basis of his performance, but you can’t say that he has been under similar pressure before. To say the least, he has won three straight knockout finals in the European Champions League in his career, two French Cup finals and a European Super Cup final to his name, so an European Championship final is a big surprise.
Manuel Gräfe, a former Bundesliga referee, said of the case: “It’s a brave nomination, but he’s a very good referee, perhaps one of the most talented”. But in principle, we can be confident that the final will not be about Letexier, and the pairing itself is not that difficult.
Although the Spaniards are already the most unsportsmanlike team in the tournament with 15 yellow cards, 1 red card and 83 fouls, a lot of them came in the quarter-final against Germany. Against the French, for example, only 9 fouls were committed by Yamales, for 2 yellows. England have played a similar game at the Euros, with 11 cautions for Gareth Southgate’s side and 50 fouls in 6 games.
So two under-performing teams meet, but if you look at the high average, Letexier is more likely to be one of the over-performing teams. The 10 yellows in his three European Championship games are not many, but in the BL, for example, his career average is over 4.
Best free picks for Spain-England
However, my first guess is not Letexier’s, as the referee has less influence on the fouls called than on the cards given, which depends more on the style of the teams. And this time we trust the English, who not only have won 5 out of their 6 matches, but also only committed 7 fouls in normal time in the final of the 2020 European Championship. As I’m expecting more of a Spanish success, this also means that Bellingham will have to go after the result.
My second idea is a more peaceful opening period. A cautious final is almost coded for England, so I’d be surprised if there are at least two cards in the first 45 minutes, especially with Letexier this year.
