Spain have been crowned European champions after beating Germany 1 - 0 in the Euro 2008 final in Vienna, Austria. Liverpool striker Fernando Torres scored the decisive strike in the first half to ultimately bring the trophy back to Madrid after a 44 year wait from their last European Championships victory back in 1964.

The Spanish were worthy winners both on the night and over the duration of the tournament. Their style of skilful attacking football will have won them many neutral fans and players such as Torres, Xavi, Iniesta and David Silva will all have increased their own personal standing after several outstanding performances.

Germany's warriors looked rather bereft of ideas tonight and only a few brief spells of German possession showed anything of their willingness to actually engage Spain in a game of top-level football. The Spanish midfield simply passed and moved them out of the game and with a figurehead such as Torres in full flow, Spain were always most likely to score.

The final was actually an enjoyable, end to end game of football with defensive frailties on both sides giving each coach no end of heart flutters. In the end the talent of the Spanish was enough to see off the dogged determination of the Germans and captain Iker Casillas lifted the trophy from UEFA president Michel Platini, the man who, 24 years previously, had denied Spain victory in their last major final appearance.

What special talent does Russian coach Guus Hiddink have when it comes to international coaching at the world's biggest tournaments that so many of his contemporaries seem to be lacking? Having taken South Korea to the World Cup semi-finals in 2002 and Australia to their first World Cup in 32 years in 2006, not to mention his native Holland to their won World Cup semi-finals in 1998, Hiddink has now raised the bar once again by taking Russia to the Euro 2008 semi-finals in Austria and Switzerland.

Defeating his native Holland doesn't seem to have been a problem for the profoundly professional Hiddink and rightly so, the Russians pay his (very comfortable) wages and he has helped mould their raw talent into an exciting side completely worthy of their growing success at this year's European Championships.

Having such enigmatic talents as Arshavin and Pavyluchenko hasn't hurt the Russian cause in any way of course but, for me, there isn't another coach in European football who could have taken Russia this far, other than Guus Hiddink, and with Italy or Spain to face in the semis next week, there may be even more glory yet to come.

Hardly a shock after the not so subtle press leaks from Cristiano Ronaldo's advisors over the past few weeks but now Portugal have dropped out of Euro 2008 the player has finally came out and admitted that he wants to leave European champions Manchester United for Real Madrid. So much for FIFA and UEFA clearing Real Madrid of making an illegal approach then.

As soon as the rumours started a few weeks ago it became all too apparent that Real Madrid were using some of Sir Alex Ferguson's own unsettling techniques (I point I made in this very blog) by leaking stories to the press while officially denying any interest. The outcome is now perfectly clear and I would be completely shocked to still see Ronaldo in a Manchester United shirt for the start of the 2008/2009 season. Read more...

I think all football writers had been lining up to write the Euro 2008 obituaries of both Italy and France this evening but when it came down to it the World champions managed to step up a gear and the beaten World Cup finalists didn't meaning Italy live to fight another day and France are out.

The French can point to Franck Ribery's early withdrawal from the game through injury and Eric Abidal's sending off as the turning points but in reality Raymond Domenech's men never looked interested enough in trying to fight for the right to progress from Group C and ultimately paid the price with bottom spot in the group. Read more...