UEFA EURO 2008™ has been a tremendous success, and the tournament got the climax it deserved as Spain, the most consistently productive team at the finals, defeated a resilient Germany 1-0 at a noisy and colourful Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna.

Dominant force
In truth, Spain should have won by more than Fernando Torres's smartly taken 33rd-minute goal. Apart from a nervous beginning, when Germany came out of the traps with clear ambition and found holes in the normally watertight Spanish defensive unit, the Furia Roja were the dominant attacking force. Their incisive passing and subtle movement repeatedly got them behind the back of the German defence, but a loose or rushed final ball invariably let their opponents off the hook.