Mariona Caldentey says England “have it inside them” to win Euro 2025 and Spain must be wary when the teams meet again in the final.
Sunday’s game in Basel (17:00 BST kick-off) will be a repeat of the 2023 Women’s World Cup final – which Spain won 1-0 in Sydney.
The two teams also went head-to-head in this year’s Women’s Nations League, with England picking up a 1-0 victory at Wembley in February, before suffering a 2-1 defeat in Barcelona in June.
Midfielder Caldentey won the Women’s Champions League with Arsenal this season and was named the WSL player of the year – so knows the Lionesses well.
“I know the footballers they are and I know what they can do,” Caldentey told BBC Sport.
“It’s a final, so they are dangerous even though they can’t maybe play the greatest football yet, but they have it inside them. It will be a hard, but good game.”
Reigning champions England have had a rollercoaster tournament, overcoming several setbacks to reach their third successive major final.
Following defeat by France in their opening group game, they came through a quarter-final penalty shootout against Sweden and needed an extra-time winner in their semi-final to beat Italy.
World champions Spain have now won six consecutive knockout matches at major tournaments – but will be competing in their first Euros final.
“Today we can enjoy. Tomorrow we have to start thinking of England,” said two-time Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati following their 1-0 win over Germany.
“I know England have played twice for 120 minutes. We trust in our squad. We believe in our players.
“They have a lot of players that we faced a lot of times and in 2023. We know them and they know us. We want to prepare the best we can.”
