Sixteen years on from their first and only previous World Cup, back in 2010, this was a title a long time coming, and the Spanish locals and lucky holidaymakers who watched it unfold on the island will remember exactly where they were when La Roja got over the line.
Nobody said it would be easy, and it wasn't. Argentina dug in, the goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez pulled off save after save, and ninety minutes came and went with the scoreline still blank. Even reduced to ten men, after Enzo Fernández was sent off late in normal time, Argentina held firm deep into the extra half-hour. Then, right at the start of the second period of extra time, Spain finally cracked it: a long ball forward, Nico Williams haring onto it and heading the ball back across goal, and there was substitute Ferran Torres to lash it in on 106 minutes. Argentina had nothing left to give, Lionel Messi's dream of one last World Cup fading in what may be his final tournament, and Spain saw it out to lift the trophy having gone through the whole competition unbeaten, conceding just a single goal in eight games.
There was a lovely sense of history to the occasion, too. Among those watching from the stands were several of the legends who won Spain's first World Cup back in 2010, with the likes of Iker Casillas, Xavi Hernández and Carles Puyol appearing on FIFA's gold carpet before the match. More than a decade and a half after their own night of glory, they watched a fresh crop of Spanish stars match their achievement, a fitting passing of the torch from one great generation to the next.
The timing really couldn't have been better. The final fell during the island's Fiestas del Carmen, so the celebrations were already in full swing, and towns such as Playa Blanca had big screens set up in their squares ready for it. What started as the usual evening of music and dancing after the day's traditional sea processions rolled straight into a World Cup watch party, crowds pressed around the screens, faces painted red and yellow, everyone holding their nerve through those tense extra-time minutes before the place went up at Torres' goal.
And it wasn't just Playa Blanca. Right across the island, from the capital Arrecife to the resorts of Puerto del Carmen and Costa Teguise, bars and plazas were packed, and once the trophy was lifted the noise spilled out into the streets, car horns blaring, flags hanging from balconies and singing echoing into the small hours. It's the kind of spontaneous, shared celebration that shows just how deeply football runs here, and anyone on holiday on the island found themselves swept up in a proper Spanish World Cup party.
For visitors, you couldn't script it better: a warm July weekend, the colour and tradition of the Carmen fiestas, and then a slice of sporting history to cap it all off. Spain's players fly home to a champions' welcome, and on Lanzarote the feel-good glow is set to linger a good while yet. Enhorabuena, La Roja. World champions again, and what a place to have watched it happen.
