FIFA have announced their Euro 2008 team of the tournament and, as expected, the Spanish contingent dominated the starting XI.

The European Champions were outstanding from start to finish during the Championships and they had no trouble en route to lifting the Henri Delaunay trophy.

World football’s governing body has now recognised the Spanish effort and they have included no less than six Furia Roja players in their team selection.Russia, Holland, Portugal and Germany share the five remaining places.

FIFA’s EURO 2008 starting XI:

Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Puyol, Pepe, Lahm; Senna, Xavi, Ballack, Sneijder; Villa, Arshavin.

David Villa finished the championship as top-scorer with four goals. Three of those were a hat-trick against Russia in their first group D game.

Fernando Torres’ strike in the final clinched victory over the Germans and Xavi Hernandez was officially the player of the tournament.

Ref from Salvatore Landolina - goal.com

Spain ended their 44-year trophy drought by defeating Germany 1-0 with a Fernando Torres goal and are crowned champions of Europe.

Two completely different schools of football went head to head in Vienna for the European Championship. Spain were the favourites after winning all their games, albeit needing penalties to see off Italy in the quarter-final, but had not won silverware since 1964 and their last major Final was 24 years ago. Germany went into a record sixth Euro Final and have proved their mental toughness on more than one occasion.

Top scorer David Villa was out of action due to a thigh strain, so Cesc Fabregas came in to adopt a more creative and packed midfield. Michael Ballack passed a last-minute fitness test to start despite a calf problem. Torsten Frings returned to the starting XI after recovering from a broken rib.

There was an early scare after three minutes when a poor Sergio Ramos backpass was intercepted by Miroslav Klose, but the Bayern Munich man was unable to make the most of this gift. Thomas Hitzlsperger had a tame shot from the left flank as it was all Germany early on with Iker Casillas dealing with some corner kicks.

However, it was nearly an own goal at the other end when a brilliant through ball found Andres Iniesta, it ricocheted off Christoph Metzelder and forced a fantastic reaction save out of Jens Lehmann.

A hopeful Xavi Hernandez free kick over the wall was easily gathered and Per Mertesacker did well to stand his ground and cut short a dangerous Fernando Torres counter.

Spain were visibly improving with every minute and should have scored on 22 minutes. Torres got behind Mertesacker for a towering header that cracked against the base of the near post! As the move continued, Capdevila blasted wide.

Germany wanted a penalty for Sergio Ramos’ handling offence to block a Ballack volley, but replays showed he made contact with his ribcage. Lukas Podolski wasted a promising opportunity when he hesitated with his weaker right foot, then another clearer handling offence by Marcos Senna was waved on.

A Fabregas strike was smothered by Lehmann, but the German defence’s utter howler handed Spain the opener on 33 minutes! Lehmann came rushing out low to gather the Fabregas pass, but Torres anticipated both the shot-stopper and Philipp Lahm to flick it over Lehmann into an empty net.

Moments later Iniesta set up a great chance for David Silva, who shinned it over with only the goalkeeper to beat. To make matters worse, Germany went down to 10 men momentarily as Ballack was left bleeding after an accidental knock to the eyebrow from Senna.

Bastian Schweinsteiger horribly wasted a free kick, while Silva’s first touch sent a good through ball out for a goal kick. Ballack got into a tussle with Casillas and Carles Puyol, with both the Chelsea and Real Madrid men booked. Spain continued to threaten on the counter as Iniesta was charged down for a corner.

Inevitably, Joachim Low had to make a change and Marcell Jansen replaced Lahm at left-back. It made little difference to a shaky defence and Lehmann got a fingertip to Xavi’s shot across the face of goal. The resulting corner fell to Silva, whose effort was nearly flicked in off Sergio Ramos. Spain almost performed a replica of the first goal, but this time Lehmann managed to scramble hold of the ball just before Torres could connect.

Time was running out and Low threw on striker Kevin Kuranyi for the disappointing midfielder Hitzlsperger. Sergio Ramos’ cross flashed past everyone and the back post, but Germany finally woke up and had a great scoring opportunity as Ballack’s low drive skimmed a coat of paint off the base off the upright from Schweinsteiger’s assist.

There was a curious moment with Torres down after a knock, but the referee did not stop play and Schweinsteiger went over to the Liverpool striker with the ball to his feet and tried to pick him up! Play continued anyway and as the move progressed Kuranyi just failed to get his head to a dangerous Ballack cross.

Schweinsteiger went on the counter with three against three, but his shot came off teammate Klose for a goal kick. Luis Aragones also made a change, adopting a 4-1-4-1 with Juventus target Xabi Alonso replacing Fabregas.

Germany were furious with Italian referee Roberto Rosetti, as Podolski appeared to be butted lightly when he went head-to-head with Silva, but the officials did not take action. Understanding the risk that had been run, Aragones replaced him with Santi Cazorla.

The Germans were uncharacteristically disastrous at defending from a free kick, as Sergio Ramos was totally unmakred and his free header palmed out by Lehmann. From the corner Frings had to clear off the line from Iniesta’s eight-yard effort.

Santi Cazorla threaded through for Iniesta again clear on goal and tested the ‘keeper. At the other end Casillas punched away a Frings free kick and Torres was carded for an elbow on Mertesacker.

Torres skipped past Mertesacker moments later, but his touch was too heavy and allowed Lehmann to gather. Spain had a flowing counter-attack only for Torres to see both crosses charged down. It was Torres’ final contribution, as he made way for Roma transfer target Daniel Guiza. Germany made their final change with Klose replaced by Mario Gomez, who has had a disastrous tournament up until now.

Spain would have made it 2-0 with nine minutes left had Senna been able to make contact with Guiza’s cutback, but he was at full stretch with the goal gaping from five yards! Xavi curled a free kick over and Kuranyi saw yellow for a clumsy challenge on Senna. Gomez ruined a good chance by barging into Capdevila in the final minute, but Spain were celebrating at the final whistle.
Germany: Lehmann; Friedrich, Mertesacker, Metzelder, Lahm (Jansen 46); Frings, Hitzlsperger (Kuranyi 58); Schweinsteiger, Ballack, Podolski; Klose (Gomez 78)

Spain: Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Marchena, Puyol, Capdevila; Senna; Iniesta, Xavi, Fabregas (Alonso 63), Silva (Santi Cazorla 66); Torres (Guiza 78)

Ref: Rosetti (Ita)

Ref From channel4.com

Perennial underachievers Spain will be looking to get their Euro 2008 campaign off to a flying start when they take on Russia.

The two sides are no strangers, as they also met in the group stage in Portugal four years ago. Juan Carlos Valeron proved to be the Red Fury’s match-winner on that occasion, but neither side reached the quarter-finals so they will be hoping to improve their fortunes this time out.

With the likes of Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Cesc Fabregas and Fernando Torres in their ranks, Spain are unsurprisingly being tipped by many to win their first European Championship in over 40 years, when they beat the USSR in the Final. Luis Aragones’ men made a meal out of their qualification campaign, but they’ve been in good form of late and picked up an impressive friendly win over Italy earlier this year.

“We are here, hungry and ready,” revealed Arsenal ace Fabregas. "I believe the keys to winning a tournament are confidence, physical fitness and possessing a tough mentality. You build around quality, but it’s defending and not conceding needless goals which wins you trophies. If Spain can match that then we have ample attacking quality and then we can think about winning the tournament.”

Aragones is set to start the tournament with a two-man strike force comprising of Torres and Valencia’s David Villa, which looks as potent a pairing as you’re likely to find. Xabi Alonso netted a wonder goal in training, but the Juventus target is unlikely to force his way into a midfield which could be missing either Fabregas or Andres Iniesta, with Marco Senna expected to be preferred in a holding role. And there will be a lot of pressure on the defensive duo of Ramos and Carles Puyol, with Carlos Marchena and Joan Capdevilla prone to mistakes.

Russia, meanwhile, will be looking to cause an upset or two having failed to make an impact in their two previous European Championships as an independent nation. Guus Hiddink’s men came through a tricky qualification group at the expense of England and, aside from their trip to Wembley, generally looked pretty sound defensively. Their organisational skills are very similar to Greece’s four years ago, but the loss of playmaker Andrei Arshavin through suspension for the first two games is a huge blow.

However, Hiddink has promised that his side haven’t come to Euro 2008 to defend. “Of course there are nerves but I don’t want them to play in a way that it will weigh heavily on them and affect their performance," the Dutchman stated. "They must express themselves and when they do that they can play football, that’s for sure. I want to see a very bright team. People like to see a team which is going forward and taking risks, so because of this there have been a few tactical changes recently."

The biggest adjustment seems to have been a switch to a 4-4-2 rather than the 3-5-2 used throughout much of the qualifying campaign, but it remains to be seen whether there will be a change of personnel in the back four. However, one certainty is that Pavel Pogrebnyak will not be taking part in the tournament after pulling out with a knee injury, so Roman Pavlyuchenko is almost certain to lead the attack. Konstantin Zyrianov will be charged with supplying him with chances after some fine performances in training, but Igor Semshov is sweating on his place after failing to impress Hiddink and his teammates during practice.

Key clash: Fernando Torres v Sergei Ignashevich
Few strikers enjoyed the 2007-08 campaign more than Fernando Torres. The Liverpool ace – who cost £21m last summer – proved to be worth every penny as he scored every type of goal you can imagine. The bad news for Russia is that he has displayed that sort of form for his country too. Thankfully, Guus Hiddink’s men have the impressive Sergei Ignashevich to try and keep him quiet. The CSKA Moscow stopper will be desperate to make a good impression after missing the last event through injury. What better way than by shutting down Torres?

Ref From channel4.com