Boy, 7, makes Euros final his first live match

A seven-year-old boy from Northamptonshire had a memorable first football match - a trip to Berlin to watch the final of the Euros.

Ronnie Chatfield, from Moulton, was taken to see the England v Spain match with his father, Ben, and grandfather, Gary.

Ronnie "loved" Cole Palmer's 73rd-minute equaliser but despair set in when Mikel Oyarzabal sealed the match for Spain 13 minutes later.

His father, a Manchester United fan, is hoping the defeat will not put him off football and he will start going to games regularly next season.

Ben Chatfield decided to make the trip to the final in Berlin a family affair.

He said: "I thought we'd go out there and take three generations - me, my dad and my lad.

"It was a good experience for all of us regardless of the result."

Proudly wearing his England shirt and with an England flag painted on his face, Ronnie settled down in his seat at the Olympiastadion where his compatriots easily outnumbered the Spanish contingent.

If he was expecting a flurry of goals, he would have been disappointed by the first half but things got more exciting just after the break when Nico Williams opened the scoring for Spain.

Ronnie said he "loved" Palmer's goal, which came just two minutes after he got up from the substitutes' bench, but Oyarzabal made sure the England celebrations were short lived.

Ronnie said: "I told my dad, when I was sitting next to him, I said 'we lost, let's just go'."

Ben Chatfield nearly had second thoughts about the Euro 2024 final being Ronnie's first ever match, because "everything else is nothing compared to this".

But, he hoped the excitement would encourage him to become a fan: "I wanted to put a bit of a spark under him to start enjoying football and come with me and see what's going on.

"Hopefully, when the season starts again, he'll ask me to go to the football."

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