Fiesta time. The wonderful festival of football that was Euro 2008 finished in style last night, settled by that stylish finisher named Fernando Torres. In ending 44 years of hurt without a trophy, Spain possessed too much heart, too much invention, and too much Torres for Germany.
The Spanish striker took his first-half goal expertly, racing through and lifting the ball over the otherwise excellent Jens Lehmann, but there was steel to these Spaniards as well as silk. Xavi was again dominant in midfield, making tackles, shaping attacks, driving Spain to their first silverware since the 1964 European Championships.
As the Spanish partied in the Ernst Happel Stadium, Let Me Entertain You pounded from every speaker. Good choice. It was Spain's mission statement set to music. Entertainment was the name of Spain's game, flair flowing from the elegant feet of Xavi, Torres, Cesc Fabregas, Sergio Ramos, Andres Iniesta and David Silva.
A tournament that celebrated attacking brio, that treated billion-strong global audiences to match after compelling match has showcased what can be achieved through a commitment to thrill.
Torres and company make worthy champions. This was a victory not only for Spain but for all who love open, attacking football. Spain's football lifts the soul.
Shortly after the final whistle, as the Spanish formed a guard of honour, Joachim Low led his vanquished, shattered players on the most brutal journey in sport, the losers' climb up the podium. To collect medals that none wanted, the Germans had to walk within inches of the Henri Delaunay trophy. Lehmann touched it longingly. So near and yet so far.
Low's men had given everything, played exciting football at times during their odyssey through Euro 2008, especially in defeating Portugal in the quarter-finals, but it was not enough. As hard as Michael Ballack worked, Spain were simply superior in all departments.
Germany's captain, his bloodied face revealing the intensity of the midfield battle, was consoled by Michel Platini, Uefa's president. As Ballack progressed along the long line of administrators, royals, and Chancellors, the Chelsea midfielder behaved with remarkable dignity, smiling and making small talk, when inside he must have been ripped to pieces, his heart close to breaking.
His second European final defeat of the summer, Ballack's career has contained too many near-misses. He then stood back and applauded the victors up. Torres, a Spanish flag wrapped around his waist, ran a finger along the base of the trophy.
And then came Iker Casillas, Spain's captain. Platini knows what it is like to receive the trophy, as France's inspiration in 1984, and now he handed it across, passing it into the safest of hands, those of Casillas. Spain's magnificent fans went wild with delight, dancing, waving their flags, banging their drums as Casillas lifted the trophy to the heavens.
Team and support soon embraced, Casillas, Xavi and Torres leading the charge over to their fans, Torres even jumping into the crowd to find friends and relatives. In truth, Torres had not been at his electric best in reaching the final but he had immediately begun reminding everyone of his Liverpool form, perhaps inspired by the pre-match rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone.
Torres swiftly linked with Fabregas, who was playing the Steven Gerrard support role to Torres in Luis Aragones' 4-1-3-1-1 formation. His goal, when it came, was conceived in Villarreal and Barcelona, in the quick-thinking of Marcos Senna and Xavi, two of the players of a star-studded tournament.
Spain would be hopeless on Mastermind - too many passes - but they took a more direct route for Torres' stunning 33rd-minute strike. Two fast passes down the middle opened Germany up. Senna found Xavi, who instantly swept the ball down the inside-right channel for Torres to chase. Philipp Lahm and Lehmann still guarded the avenue to goal. Not well enough.
For these are the openings Torres craves, a defender reacting too slowly and then a keeper diving at his feet. Having outpaced Lahm with almost embarrassing ease, Torres glided into the area. As Lehmann threw himself forward, Torres lifted the ball over the prostrate German.
It was a glittering goal that echoed another final gem by a Liverpool striker, Kenny Dalglish's elegant chip over the Bruges keeper, Birger Jensen, to win the 1978 European Cup at Wembley.
Fernando Torres' strike wins Euro 2008 for Spain to leave Germany empty handed, Germany (0) 0 Spain (1) 1
Spain crush Russia to reach final, Russia (0) 0 Spain (0) 3
Lightning does strike twice. Echoing the three-goal margin with which they defeated Russia as Euro 2008 opened, Spain last night glided to the tournament's climax with some memorable second-half moves as thunder and lightning crackled around the Ernst Happel Stadium.
The final of Spain versus Germany represents a broadcaster's dream, and a fascinating collision of cultures. The empty seats surprisingly evident here last night will not be seen on Sunday for a heavyweight conclusion to a marvellous tournament.
Spain's football last night was of an elevated class that England can only dream of, the ball caressed at speed between friendly feet, the touch as instant as the vision was inspired. Russia, so vibrant since that Innsbruck rout, were simply outplayed again, with Andrei Arshavin a particular disappointment.
Russia's No 10 dreams of a move to Barcelona and it was two Camp Nou regulars who dominated midfield. Xavi scored Spain's first while Andres Iniesta delivered one of those box-to-box displays that makes one understand why Cesc Fabregas cannot get a place in Luis Aragones' starting XI.
But when he came on for David Villa, Fabregas was outstanding, delivering the perfect passes for Daniel Guiza and David Silva to put Russia to the sword. Such was the speed of Spanish movement, Russia's midfielders and defenders might just as well have sat in the stand for all their ability to intervene.
Even before Spain conjured up some exquisite second-half goals, the day had brought many remarkable sights and sounds, first with a Russian woman spending 200,000 euros on jewellery in Vienna city centre and then Michel Platini threatening meltdown in the Premier League fixture computer by suggesting Euro 2012 starts in August.
Oligarch partners and Uefa dignitaries then stepped past the rain puddles outside the storm-hit stadium wondering whether Spain could repeat their group-stage trouncing of Russia.
They had to wait until after the break for confirmation. Xavi struck midway through the second period, reacting superbly to turn in Iniesta's cross-shot. Spain's drenched fans raised the roof. Then Guiza reacted brilliantly to Fabregas' magnificent pass to put the game beyond Russia.
Victory was deserved for Spain's skilled technicians, who also had the game's best player in Sergio Ramos who was terrific up and down the right. Fabregas also made his customary impact when coming on for Spain.
Aragones' side had certainly started the better in a game that took time to get going. Spain had been the first to show, Fernando Torres, Villa and Ramos testing Igor Akinfeev's reflexes.
Ramos, superb throughout, embodied the theme of full-backs pushing on, showing as much naked ambition as the 200 Russian fans who ripped off their shirts and stood there in the teeming rain, willing Mother Nature to do her worst. Russia's left-back, Yuri Zhirkov, kept charging forward, doing one lovely dink to lift the ball over Villa.
Zhirkov was so far forward at one point in the first half, he created a superb opening for Russia by sliding in and nicking the ball away from Carles Puyol, whose bedraggled locks gave him the air of a Dulux dog emerging from a particularly enjoyable puddle.
Zhirkov nudged the ball onto Roman Pavlyuchenko, whose response highlighted why so many clubs are watching the Spartak Moscow striker. His right foot crashed down in the glistening ball, sending it swerving at speed towards Spain's goal.
Only a keeper of the quality of Iker Casillas would have reacted well enough, throwing his body to the left and stretching out a gloved finger to tip the ball to safety. It was a vital moment, preventing Russia from claiming the lead.
Such are the fractions that prevent goals, and Casillas' connection with the ball occurred in such a blur of movement that the Belgian referee, Frank de Bleeckere, did not spot the save and awarded a goal-kick. Pavlyuchenko did, and gesticulated for a corner, determined something from the good work of Zhirkov.
Phillipp Lahm's late winner sends Turkey home and Germany into another final. Germany 3-2 Turkey
German football as we know it - the team that endures, the team that comes through, the team that wins - was born in Switzerland, 60 miles from the stadium where they fought their way desperately through to another final.
"The Miracle of Berne", the victory in the 1954 World Cup final against a Hungarian side that had put eight goals past them in the group stages and who were two up after eight minutes, was the moment German football began to believe in itself. It was the moment they started to become the team we know now; the one that devotes itself to ensuring that miracles in football do not happen. Last night, they so nearly failed.
Germany were five minutes away from their sixth European Championship final when once more the Turks did something extraordinary. The full-back, Sabri Sarioglu shot from an acute angle and as Jens Lehmann prepared to gather it, Semih Senturk nipped in to embarrass the goalkeeper and cancel out what should have been a decisive second German goal headed in by Miroslav Klose. Unless the Vatican's bid to stage Euro 2016 is successful, it is hard to think of another tournament where so many miracles could have been invoked.
The Austrian media appealed to the memory of "The Miracle of Cordoba", when they eliminated Germany from the 1978 World Cup. They celebrated Turkey's victory over Croatia as "The Miracle of Vienna". We seemed about to witness "The Miracle of Basle".
In the quarter-finals a goal from Senturk had crushed the spirit of Croatia but here all the old German resilience came to the fore. On the edge of the box and extra time, a one-two saw Phillipp Lahm clear on goal and his finish was emphatic.
St Jakob Park was where the Turkish revival had begun in the driving rain against Switzerland. Then followed the three goals in the final 15 minutes to send the Czech Republic home and the last, desperate kick of the game from Senturk, whose name means "saviour", to force a penalty shoot-out with Croatia.
And yet coach Fatih Terim began the game by saying he did not believe in miracles. "I know of three results in football - win, defeat and a draw; there is no result in football called a miracle," he said. His side's progress through these championships, which unlike the Greek triumph in Euro 2004 was not part of a rigid plan but a series of cavalry charges, suggested otherwise.
So did much of this match. And aside from Sabri Sarioglu's flattening of Lahm, which referee Massimo Busacca somehow judged not to be a penalty, it would be hard to argue the Turks were relying on good fortune.
As a man who once laid out Istanbul's chief of police after an argument, Terim knows how to fight. Nine players injured or suspended meant his only strategy was to pack the midfield with what was left and attack when he could.
When Ugur Boral drove a rebound off the crossbar between Jens Lehmann's legs after Colin Kazim-Richards had struck the frame of the goal for the second time in 22 minutes, it looked to be working magnificently.
The Germans appeared strangely nervous. Their space was smothered, their passing was as shoddy as it had been when losing to Croatia in the group stages while Klose had no pace to trouble a thoroughly makeshift Turkish defence. Michael Ballack was pounced upon whenever he appeared to find some space.
When Kazim-Richards sent a shot crashing into Lehmann's crossbar in the opening exchanges, it deserved to go in. Even when Bastian Schweinsteiger equalised, Turkey kept attacking as their midfielder Hamit Altintop argued beforehand that they had to.
Altintop's free-kick, that swerved and dipped suddenly, forcing Lehmann to tip over, was a perfect illustration of an extraordinary night.
The half-time statistics showed Turkey had 11 shots, nine of which were on target, and immediately after the interval, Joachim Low threw on Torsten Frings in an attempt to restore some order to midfield. When analysing this semi-final, Arsene Wenger said what set the Germans apart was their efficiency in the final third. The Arsenal manager said that, while Spain may need 14 chances, Germany habitually required only five or six. Schweinsteiger proved Wenger's point. A long ball found Lukas Podolski and when he crossed low, Schweinsteiger slid to meet the ball before Mehmet Topal and Germany were level.
Fabregas scored the winning kick to give Spain a 4-2 shootout victory over World Cup champion Italy, set to battle Russia
VIENNA, Austria -- Iker Casillas saved two penalties and Cesc Fabregas scored the winning kick to give Spain a 4-2 shootout victory over World Cup champion Italy on Sunday and a spot in the European Championship semifinals.
After an often dull 0-0 draw, the man-of-the-match Casillas saved penalties from Daniele De Rossi and Antonio Di Natale.
"I was sure he was going to stop the penalties," Spain coach Luis Aragones said. "I was sure."
Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon saved Spain's fourth kick from Dani Guiza, but David Villa, Santi Cazorla, Marcos Senna also scored to send Spain through to a semifinal meeting with Russia.
Only Fabio Grosso and Mauro Camoranesi managed to score their penalties for Italy at Ernst Happel Stadium.
"We deserved to win on penalty kicks," Aragones said. "We didn't play great football, but neither did Italy."
Spain, the only of the four group winners to reach the semifinals at Euro 2008, will face Russia at the same stadium on Thursday. The Spaniards beat Russia 4-1 in its opening Group D match. Germany will face Turkey on Wednesday in Basel, Switzerland.
After an uninspiring 90 minutes in which neither side met its potential, David Silva hit a shot just wide for Spain in extra time and Di Natale had a header tipped over the bar by Casillas.
Italy made its last substitution in the 108th minute, bringing on Alessandro Del Piero, but the team's continued caution suggested this was more for the shootout than for his ability to conjure a winning goal.
"The forwards did their jobs," Donadoni said. "Even though they didn't score goals, they did some positive things."
Spain created more openings in the first 90 minutes, but Italy went close in the 61st minute when Camoranesi had a goalbound shot blocked by the legs of Casillas.
With key midfielders Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso suspended, the World Cup champions seemed mostly content to try and stifle a Spain team that had shown some of the best attacking football in the group stages.
"We're very bitter, but we still have a lot of pride," Gattuso said. "Losing on penalties happens. We won the World Cup on penalties."
Spain's best opportunity came in the 81st minute when goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon spilled a fierce long-range shot by Senna. The ball squirmed out of his hands and rolled back to hit the post before landing softly back in his arms.
The first half had been so poor that both sets of fans jeered the teams off the field for the interval, with the most noise the heavily outnumbered Italians made coming when Antonio Cassano took a 40th-minute corner right in front of them.
Spain at least attempted some enterprising football and had 10 shots to Italy's two, but the Italians' defence was so secure that only a blocked effort by Silva came from inside the area.
"The pace of the game was rather slow," Aragones said. "If we'd had a little more pace on the ball, we'd have got more chances."
The move that led to that chance was arguably the brightest spot in a stultifying first half. David Villa set up Silva with a back-heeled return pass so audacious that even retired France great Zinedine Zidane, who was watching from the stands, nodded in approval.
Spain tried to quicken things up, refusing to dither over goal kicks and throws, but the game continued to succumb to Italy's leaden pace.
Silva twice had 25-meter (yard) shots saved by Buffon low to his left and the Spanish, who had flourished in the first round with eight goals in three first-round matches, seemed to get frustrated.
Silva was lucky not to get a yellow card in the 42nd minute when he threw himself over the outstretched leg of Grosso on the edge of the area. Silva writhed about on the grass until play was halted, at which point referee Herbert Fandel marched half the length of the field to order him to his feet.
The pace improved at the start of the second half even if the quality didn't.
Fernando Torres and Villa worked the ball to Andres Iniesta on the left of Italy's area only for the midfielder to mis-control and let it hit his hand.
And Silva got a chance in the 49th minute when a clearance under pressure by Christian Panucci hit De Rossi and rebounded to Silva in the area. Silva twisted to get his shot away, but Giorgio Chiellini blocked with a sliding challenge.
But at least there seemed to be more attacking intent from Italy, which almost took the lead in the 61st minute after Luca Toni hooked the ball away from Casillas just as he was about to grab it. Camoranesi, who had been on the field just three minutes, shot from in front of goal only for the recovering Casillas to block with his legs.
"We don't feel like champions just because we beat Russia 4-1 in the first round," Casillas said. "Russia is a great team and proved it against the Netherlands and Sweden. What happened before is not important now."
Villa was unlucky to be booked when the referee misinterpreted his slip in the area as a dive, but the fortune went Spain's way later on when Grosso was preparing to meet a cross into the area with a shot on goal, only for Toni to redirect the flight of the ball away from him with an attempted overhead kick.
Chiellini, who has only been starting in Italy's defence because he injured captain Fabio Canavarro in training before the tournament, had a stellar match throughout and blocked an effort by Guiza at the start of extra time.
Silva put the rebound just wide before, at the other end, Di Natale went close with his fierce header from a right-wing cross. Buffon then blocked a low shot by Villa, the last meaningful effort of the match.
"I told the guys to keep their heads up. They did all they could," Donadoni said. "This loss will help them grow more. Tomorrow we'll start anew. We're looking forward."
Russia boss Guus Hiddink paid tribute to his side's overall strength after their 3-1 Euro 2008 quarter-final extra time win over Netherlands.
Russia caused a major upset when they beat Netherlands 3-1 in extra time in Basel on Saturday to clinch the third Euro 2008 semi-final spot and send home the orange-clad army of Dutch fans who had lit up the tournament.
Netherlands had looked to be Euro 2008 favourites ahead of the game after a tremendous run in the group stage, which saw them humble 2006 World Cup champions Italy and runners-up France before seeing off Romania with a second-string side.
But Russia outclassed the 1988 European champions with Roman Pavlyuchenko scoring his third goal of the tournament early in the second half and then Dmitry Torbinsky and Andrei Arshavin gave Russia the victory they richly deserved.
Ruud van Nistelrooy had pulled one back for the Netherlands in the 86th minute to take the game to extra time.
Russia, who lost their first group game of the tournament 4-1 to Spain, now face either Italy or the Spaniards who will meet in Vienna on Sunday.
Arshavin, who was suspended for Russia's first two group matches, has made all the difference since his return for the team's final group game against Sweden, in which he scored one of Russia's two goals.
The boyish-looking 27-year-old played another superb match on Saturday and sobbed with over-flowing emotion as he left the field.
"It's a great happiness for me and for the whole of Russia," he said.
Arshavin was dismissed for kicking an Andorra player in a qualifier, an offence that lost him the team captaincy and earned him a two-game ban in this tournament.
DUTCH DEFECTOR
Russia's Dutch coach Guus Hiddink had warned before the match he would aim to be a "big traitor" and he looked the part as he celebrated his team's win with the gusto of any Russian.
"The coach said he expected the Dutch would play very aggressively against us. But it turned out that they ran out of breath before we did. At the end the better Dutchman -- our trainer -- won," said Arshavin.
Hiddink was himself in charge of Netherlands for four years from 1994 and took them to the 1998 World Cup semi-finals.
He gave goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar his Netherlands debut in 1995, but he was the man whose team ended the 37-year-old's international career.
Van der Sar was playing in his sixth and last major tournament. His first three ended in penalty shoot-out defeats -- at Euro 96, the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000.
Marco van Basten's mixed tenure as Dutch coach also came to an end on Saturday, after he had earlier said he would step down after the tournament to manage Ajax Amsterdam.
The enthusiastic Dutch fans will be much missed in Switzerland, where they enchanted the Swiss so much they even took to wearing orange shirts.
The team will leave Euro 2008 with the gift of some turf from the Stade de Suisse stadium in Berne, a gesture of thanks from the local mayor in exchange for the excitement they generated in the city.
Netherlands had played with black armbands after Khalid Boulahrouz's prematurely-born daughter died earlier this week. Boulahrouz started the game but was substituted.
