Rodri substituted at half-time as Spain suffer huge blow vs England

Spain have been hit by a major injury blow ahead of the second half of their Euro 2024 final against England.

After a tepid first half display from both sides, Rodri, widely regarded among the best midfielders in the world, was deemed not fit enough to feature in the second period.

The Spaniard was subbed off for Martín Zubimendi.

Spain did not seem deterred by the substitution of their talisman however, scoring the game's opener minutes into the second half, courtesy of Nico Williams.

Rodri's absence may will still hurt Spain however, with Wayne Rooney heralding the player has better than Sergio Busquets ahead of kick off.

He said: “The heartbeat of this Spanish team is Rodri. He is similar to one of the very, very best players I played against in my career, Sergio Busquets. Except Rodri is probably better going forward.

“He has scored some big goals for Manchester City and he gets Spain playing. England can’t give him that time on the ball, because if he gets it he can hurt you and dictate the game.”

Rodri was forced off in the second half against England (Getty)

Nevertheless their was fighting talk from Kyle Walker before the game, who claimed he knew weaknesses in Rodri's game that could be exploited.

"He's a great player, and he controls the game and dictates the game at his own pace as I know at club level," Walker told talkSPORT.

"But we've seen video clips [of him], I know him first and foremost, there's weaknesses in everyone's game. No one's the perfect article.

"But we need to try and exploit those weaknesses as best as we can and get the players that we have in dangerous areas to go and make sure that they can go score.

"And as a defence, we need to make sure we keep clean sheets."