Spain national football team is looking to bounce back from their disappointing 2014 World Cup campaign where they crashed out of the group stage after losing 5-1 to Netherlands and 2-0 to Chile.

However, they will hope to continue their impressive European Championship record having won the previous tournaments 2008 Austria and Switzerland and in 2012 Poland and Ukraine. So, does La Roja really stand a chance to win it all once again?

Odd says...

//2016.7msport.com/en/winner.shtml

As you may see from this link, major bookies reckon the hosts France is the favourites to lift the trophy, with Germany second, Spain third, England fourth and Belgium in fifth. Then we can easily jump into one conclusion: People's expectations for Spain have dropped slightly compared to previous editions, but they are still one of the strongest teams in Europe, i.e, you cannot count them out of the championship contention.

On the other hand, another figure from odds may reveal a worrying sign.

In the historical stats of AH, draw has scarcely came out under the circumstance of Spain being the favourites. However, their percentage of losing as the favourtites is 49.69%, which is higher than the opposite one - 46.58%. This set of data suggests that Spain may have won games in recent years, but their opponents were not always got thrashed by them. Not to mention that the Golden Generation started from 2008 has faded away over the years. We should take the reigning European Championship seriously, but they are not that dominant as before.

Fixture says...

As well as Spain, Group D contains the Czech Republic, Croatia and Turkey. Defender Jordi Alba said their side have got the most difficult qualifying group of the campaign. Although these three teams may not be seen as the favourites, they are tricky to play with, especially under their defensive blocks. If Del Bosque's men can build up a head of steam by crashing these sides though, then this will stand them in good stead for the rest of the title-defending journey.

One fact we may tend to overlooked is that this edition of European Championship has increased its participants up to 24. Therefore, less dark horses are expected to butt in on the giants. The aforementioned group stage concerns are weaken due to the top 4 No.3 teams would be advanced as well. I don't think the matadors will fail to get one of these spots at least!

Let us put some faith in the Spaniards and assume them do get the No.1 place of Group D, then they will face the No.3 team from Group B, Group E or Group F on June 26th. Facing a rather weak side in the knock-out round, they are in all likelihood to advance into the 1/4 final. Then their next opponent is the winner from last round, which is the No.2 teams clash between Group A and Group C, another favourites avoided! If all of these scenarios happend, Spain will meet the real challenge in the semi-final. As long as the Spanish don't completely flush it like they did inexplicably at the 2014 World Cup, their biggest advantage is that they have more than enough experience to guide themselves through the latter stages of the tournament. Younger squads, like France, England and Belgium perhaps lack this kind of resource.

Squad says...

Del Bosque's squad selection raised more than an eyebrow or two in Spain, especially with their strikers. Fernando Torres, Diego Costa and Paco Alcacer could not make the list. On paper, this would be the first "mediocre" line of attacks over the last decade in Spain national football team. Besides, their defense has got people's nerve in 2014 World Cup with Gerard Pique and Sergio Ramos's Barca-Real rivalry never put to rest.

Truth to be told, La Roja is not that remarkable as before. And counter-attacking football have got the best of Tiki-Taka, such as Leicester City and Atletico Madrid in this season.

If Spain want to lift the trophy once again, their defence and offense have to perform better. I believe two players will play huge part in this side's succerss or failure - Andres Iniesta and Alvaro Morata.

One veteran and one newbie, the former have to build up his team's play and the latter have to take the next step in his career and become a bona fide international striker.

In a word, Spain is very likely to achieve European Championship treble, but they will face a hell of a lot of fight.