Aitana Bonmati put her winner in Spain's Euro 2025 semi-final success over Germany down to her preparations, having noticed Ann-Katrin Berger's tendency to leave her near post unguarded.
Spain dominated possession throughout the last-four tie in Zurich but needed 113 minutes to find a way through, with Berger making several good saves to keep La Roja at bay.
Bonmati eventually caught the Gotham FC goalkeeper out with a low strike from a tight angle near the right byline, guiding Spain into their first European Championship final.
That was Bonmati's third goal for Spain at a World Cup or Euros, with Jennifer Hermoso the only other player to match that tally for La Roja.
Berger had been one of the stars of the tournament, making more saves than any other goalkeeper (23), while she had stopped 15 consecutive shots on target faced prior to Bonmati's goal.
But Bonmati had noticed a weakness in her opponent's game, revealing afterwards: "We had studied Berger, who makes certain movements and sometimes leaves spaces at her near post."
Spain will now face England in a re-run of the 2023 World Cup final, having ended Germany's streak of seven consecutive triumphs in Euros semi-finals.
"I feel proud because we deserve it. We have suffered, but we won the World Cup, and now we're going into the final. Every day, we've worked for this," Bonmati said.
"I don't believe in destiny. I believe in work and in our mentality. At the moment, it's time to celebrate and tomorrow we'll think about England."
Spain were almost beaten before extra time, with Cata Coll making a stunning double save four minutes into second-half stoppage time.
Coll clawed Klara Buhl's deflected effort off the line before reacting to smother Carlotta Wamser's follow-up, and the Barcelona goalkeeper says working on her concentration had paid dividends.
"I have worked very well with my psychologist," she said. "We developed a way of saying, 'the move has passed, now onto the next one'.
"We have a very lively group, and tonight we are going to really enjoy ourselves, obviously, while thinking about what is to come!"
