Spain claimed their first major title for 44 years after winning Euro 2008 with a deserved 1-0 win over Germany through Fernando Torres’s first half strike.

Credits to ahseng88

Match Highlights will be constantly updated as the match goes on subscribe to our RSS feed to receive live updated highlights from Vienna.

Germany: Lehmann, Friedrich, Mertesacker, Metzelder, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Frings, Ballack, Hitzlsperger, Podolski, Klose.

Spain: Casillas, Ramos, Puyol, Marchena, Capdevila, Senna, Iniesta, Xavi, Fabregas, Silva, Torres.

From Cesc Fabregas’s pass, Fernando Torres outpaces Philipp Lahm and dinks the ball over the advancing Jens Lehmann. Pretty poor defending from Germany, but Torres shows a real striker’s instinct.

Credits to simaofcp

Spain set up a Euro 2008 final showdown against Germany on Sunday after cruising to a comfortable 3-0 win over Russia at Vienna.

Credits to walidahmed

Match Highlights will be constantly updated as the match goes on subscribe to our RSS feed to receive live updated highlights from Vienna.

Russia: Akinfeev, V.Berezutski, Ignashevich, Saenko, Arshavin, Semak, Zyryanov, Zhirkov, Pavlyuchenko, Semshov, Anyukov.

Spain: Casillas, Marchena, Puyol, Iniesta, Villa, Xavi, Torres, Capdevila, Sergio Ramos, Senna, Silva.

Russia subs: Gabulov, Malafeev, Yanbaev, A.Berezutski, Adamov, Ivanov, Shirokov, Bilyaletdinov, Sychev, Bystrov.

Spain subs: Palop, Reina, Albiol, Fernando Navarro, Fabregas, Santi Cazorla, Alonso, Sergio Garcia, Guiza, Arbeloa, Juanito, De la Red.

Andres Iniesta creates a yard of space down the left, cuts into the box and fires over a cross-shot that Xavi does really well to deflect into the net from six yards.

Credits to dramitidis

Game over now. Cesc Fabregas, who has been imperious since he came on, clips a sumptuous pass into the path of Danny Guiza, who chests the ball down and lofts the ball over the advancing Igor Akinfeev.

Credits to ANAS ASHOUR

Andres Iniesta picks out Cesc Fabregas down the left and he sends the ball towards the penalty spot, where David Silva takes a touch and whacks the ball past Igor Akinfeev to put the Spaniards into the final in Vienna on Sunday.

Credits to dramitidis

Phillip Lahm’s dramatic last-minute winner sent Germany into the Euro 2008 final and with a 3-2 win over unlucky Turkey.

Match Highlights will be constantly updated as the match goes on subscribe to our RSS feed to receive live updated highlights from Basel.

Germany: Lehmann, Friedrich, Rolfes, Schweinsteiger, Klose, Ballack, Hitzlsperger, Lahm, Mertesacker, Podolski, Metzelder.

Turkey: Rustu, Balta, Gokhan Zan, Topal, Aurelio, Semih, Boral, Kazim, Ayhan, Sabri, Altintop.

Germany’s defence is all at sea once again as Kazim Kazim’s shot loops onto the bar and into the path of Ugur Boral, who forces the ball home despite the desperate efforts of Jens Lehmann. Un… bel… ievable.

Credits to simaofcp

Turkey just don’t like leading do they? Lukas Podolski picks up a long ball on the left and crosses for Bastian Schweinsteiger to lift the shot over Rustu Recber. Turkey famously reached the semis despite only leading games for a total of nine minutes - and they were only ahead against the Germans for five.

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Turkey keeper Rustu Recber comes to punch a deep cross but is beaten to the ball by Miroslav Klose, who heads into an empty net.

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Sabri beats Philipp Lahm on the right and that man Semih Senturk nips in at the near post ahead of Jens Lehmann to slot in the cross. Incredible, incredible, incredible.

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Philipp Lahm beats one, plays a quick pass to Thomas Hitzlsperger and then receives the return in the box, before stroking a fabulous shot into the roof of the net.

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Spain broke their jinx against Italy by defeating the World Champions 4-2 on penalties to set up a semi final clash with fellow Group D nation Russia.

Match Highlights will be constantly updated as the match goes on subscribe to our RSS feed to receive live updated highlights from Vienna.

Spain: Casillas, Marchena, Puyol, Iniesta, Villa, Xavi, Torres, Capdevilla, Ramos, Senna, Silva.

Italy: Buffon, Panucci, Grosso, Chiellini, Toni, De Rossi, Ambrosini, Cassano, Zambrotta, Perrotta, Aquilani.

Penalties

Credits to scrcap1

1st Half Highlights

Credits to ricardo1992

2nd Half Highlights

Credits to ricardo1992

By Chris Rivers,Online Media Relations 22 June 2008

Group Stage awards

Despite coming towards the end of the quarter finals I thought after such a brilliant first round it would be worthwhile in taking a look back at the group stages and hand out a few awards. For those of you who are regular visitors to Footballocks you will know this was done for the first round of group games so I will try to avoid referring back to the first round too much.

Best Match: Czech Republic 2-3 Turkey

Was there every going to be any other winner of this award? These two sides played out the most dramatic and enthralling game of the group stages. Every European Championships there is normally a classic game to decide who goes through from the group stages, I am sure many people remember the 4-3 game between Spain and Yugoslavia at Euro 2000 when the Spanish went through with a last minute winner.

This game may not have had as many goals but for a side to come from two goals behind and win, albeit with a hint of good fortune, is simply staggering. When Jaroslav Plasil slid in to make it 2-0 few would have thought that Turkey were even capable of coming from two goals down to draw let alone win. Although when Arda Turan got Turkey on the score sheet you sensed that the Czech’s were beginning to feel the heat. Nothing proved this more than Petr Cech’s error allowed Nihat to level. Criticism at Cech is slightly unfair because he is the best goalkeeper in the world and was bound to make a mistake sooner rather than later, it just so happened that it coincided with such a huge game for his country is bad luck. What capped it all off for me was Nihat’s brilliant finish to win it, that was of the highest quality and deserved to win any game.

So can Turkey go all the way after another dramatic win? Put you money where your mouth is and bet here

http://betting.betfair.com/football/euro-2008/

Team of the group stage: Holland

This was a close one to call with Holland, Croatia and Spain all winning their groups in style but the award must go to Holland after they came through the ‘group of death’ at Euro 2008 beating Italy and France in style on their way. It wasn’t just the margin of victory in those two games which impressed so many people but the way they did it with a team that wasn’t fancied by many to do much before Euro 2008 started. In fact if you look back over what was written about the Dutch before the tournament you got the impression that they wouldn’t even get a point with France and Italy the two sides to qualify.

The fact that eight different players scored for Holland showed you the strength in depth the team had, another aspect of the Dutch that was underrated. The likes of Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Varrt have been electric so far and with the unknown talents of Nigel de Jong and Orlando Engelaar backing them up Holland have created a stable base, which has been the building block of the Dutch success so far. At the back Edwin van der Sar has been in top form to keep Holland in the game at times, especially against Italy and France where he was called upon on a number of occasions.

To round off their group C rampage the Dutch created some of the finest goals you are likely to see in any game of football, from the fantastic break away goals against Italy to some wonderful finishes against France, one of which I will go in to more detail about later. Overall the Dutch were clearly the best side out of all 16, whether they go any further than the quarter finals remains to be seen.

Player of the group stages: David Villa

This was possibly the hardest category to chose from but in the end I have gone for the man who lead Spain to the quarter finals. Even though he didn’t play in the last game his performances in the first two games were impressive enough. For the third game alone my award would have gone to Andrei Arshavin but overall it has to be Villa. Four goals in two games in a major tournament is incredibly impressive for a man who had failed to shine for his nation before Euro 2008.

He may have had a quiet game against Sweden which was more to do with the lack of penetration from the Spanish midfielder rather than Villa himself. When it mattered though he came up with the goods, capitalising on a lack on concentration and finishing brilliantly under a great deal of pressure to win the game for Spain and put them through.

His hat-trick against Russia though will remain the highlight for me, it may not have been the ‘perfect’ hat-trick but it was as close as you are going to get. When you score three and make the fourth there isn’t a lot more you can do. As such I’m tipping Villa to claim the golden boot, those odds are here

http://betting.betfair.com/football/euro-2008/

Goal of the group stage: Wesley Sneijder V France.

Another tough choice to make with any number of goals capable of winning this award, Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s goal against Greece was brilliant as was Michael Ballack’s freekick against Austria but in the end for me there was only one winner. Sneijder’s goal against France gets it for me because of how brilliant the strike was. Firstly to turn Jeremy Toulalan about 22 yards from goal and then strike it so it goes up and over Gregory Coupet into the top corner was simply magic.

I am a big admirer of Sneijder’s and that goal has only raised his value for me, Real Madrid have a real gem on their hands and he could be the difference maker for Holland because when he ticks the Dutch look very dangerous.

So those are my choices for the group stages, of course those are only my opinions and if you agree or disagree with them in any of them then leave your own nominations.

Holland were knocked out of Euro 2008 after suffering a 3-1 defeat to Russia after extra time.

Roman Pavlyuchenko volleyed home to give Russia the lead in the second half before Ruud van Nistelrooy equalise for the Dutch with 4 minutes remaining.

Arshavin provided the spark in extra time when he provided a tantalising cross for Dmitri Torbinski to prod home and wrapped up the win with a clinical finish.

Match Highlights will be constantly updated as the match goes on subscribe to our RSS feed to receive live updated highlights from Basel.

Teams

Netherlands: Van der Sar, Ooijer, Mathijsen, Van Bronckhorst, Engelaar, Van Nistelrooy, Sneijder, De Jong, Kuyt, Boulahrouz, Van der Vaart.

Russia: Akinfeev, Ignashevich, Kolodin, Saenko, Arshavin, Semak, Zyryanov, Zhirkov, Pavlyuchenko, Semshov, Anyukov.

Match Highlights

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Andrei Arshavin effortlessly clips the pass through to Sergei Semak whose left-wing cross is volleyed in at the near post by Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Credits to ahseng88

Wesley Sneijder - who has done more than any Dutch player to try to drag his side into this game - swings over the free-kick from the left and Ruud van Nistelrooy leaves the Russian defence trailing to head in at the far post. Four minutes remaining.

Credits to dramiditis

Andrei Arshavin holds off the challenge from Andre Ooijer and clips over a wonderful cross from the left. Dmitri Torbinski is running in at the far post and taps in from a yard out.

Credits to ahseng88

Russia take a throw-in and it comes to Andrei Arshavin, who turns and shoots low into the corner, his effort taking a deflection of Andre Ooijer before going through Edwin van der Sar’s legs. Pathetic defending by Holland but Arshavin has fully deserved a goal for another dazzling performance tonight.

Credits to ahseng88

Credits to dramiditis

Turkey set up a semi final showdown with Germany in the Euro 2008 semi-final after beating Croatia 3-1 on penalties following a end to end dramatic finish in Vienna.

Match Highlights will be constantly updated as the match goes on subscribe to our RSS feed to receive live updated highlights from Vienna.

Team line-ups:-

Croatia: Pletikosa, Simunic, R Kovac, Corluka, Rakitic, N Kovac, Srna, Modric, Olic, Kranjcar, Pranjic.

Turkey: Rustu, Balta, Gokhan Zan, Topal, Nihat, Turan, Asik, Tuncay, Kazim, Sabri, Hamit.

Ivan Klasnic, the late, late substitute heads in from close range and that is a disaster for Rustu. Luka Modric cleverly goes across to the left of the Turkey 18-yard box and for some reason Rustu follows him out there. Modric floats over a cross and Klasnic heads into the net. Slaven Bilic does a Jose Mourinho. Remarkable.

Credits to simaofcp

Rustu hammers the ball downfield, there is a knock-down and Semih smashes the ball into the top corner left-footed from 14 yards via a deflection. We were a minute and 14 seconds over the 120 minutes. Slaven Bilic is enraged, but we do have a shoot-out after all.

Credits to simaofcp

PENALTY SHOOT-OUT

Credits to simaofcp

PETRIC SAVED Croatia 1-3 Turkey
HAMIT SCORES Croatia 1-3 Turkey
RAKITIC MISSES Croatia 1-2 Turkey
SEMIH SCORES Croatia 1-2 Turkey
SRNA SCORES Croatia 1-1 Turkey
TURAN SCORES Croatia 0-1 Turkey
MODRIC MISSES Croatia 0-0 Turkey

Bastian Schweinsteiger returned from a one game suspension to produce a man of the match performance by scoring and setting two goals to sent Germany into the semi finals of Euro 2008 after defeating a below par Portugal 3-2 at Basel.

Match Highlights will be constantly updated as the match goes on subscribe to our RSS feed to receive live updated highlights from Basel.

Team News

Portugal: Ricardo, Pepe, Ferreira, Carvalho, Bosingwa, Simao, Petit, Moutinho, Deco, Ronaldo, Nuno Gomes.

Germany: Lehmann, Metzelder, Mertesacker, Lahm, Friedrich, Schweinsteiger, Rolfes, Hitzlsperger, Ballack, Podolski, Klose.

1st Half Highlights

Credits to walidahmed

2nd half Highlights

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Lukas Podolski plays a quick on-two with Michael Ballack on the halfway line and charges down the left before squaring for Bastian Schweinsteiger, who easily gets ahead of the defender to slot in at the near post. Brilliant move from the Germans.

Credits to simaofcp

Petit is booked for a foul on Christoph Metzelder. After a short delay for treatment, Bastian Schweinsteiger delivers the free-kick to the far post where Miroslav Klose loses his marker and heads in.

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Deco wins the ball on the edge of his own area and plays it to Simao, who slides the pass through for Cristiano Ronaldo. Jens Lehmann does well to save Ronaldo’s low effort but the ball comes out to Nuno Gomes, whose shot squeezes in despite Christoph Metzelder’s attempt to block on the line.

Credits to simaofcp

Bastian Schweinsteiger delivers the deadly free-kick from the left and Michael Ballack beats Paulo Ferriera to head home - as keeper Ricardo is caught in no-man’s land.

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Some Portugal-style defending there from Germany as Helder Postiga is left unmarked to head home Nani’s cross from the left. Portugal have three minutes plus injury time to salvage an unlikely draw.

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An outstanding Russian side led by Andrei Arshavin defeated a heavy-legged Sweden 2-0 at Innsbruck to set up a quarter final clash with Holland.

Match Highlights will be constantly updated as the match goes on subscribe to our RSS feed to receive live updated highlights from Innsbruck.

Team Line Ups

Russia: Akinfeev, Kolodine, Ignashevitch, Anyukov, Zyryanov, Zhirkov, Semshov, Semak, Bilyaletdinov, Pavluchenko, Arshavin.

Sweden: Isaksson, Stoor, Nilsson, Mellberg, Hansson, Svensson, Ljungberg, Andersson, Larsson, Ibrahimovic, Elmander

Decent chance for Russia. Aleksandr Anyukov delivers a dangerous cross from the right and an unmarked Andrei Arshavin glances his header wide. Poor effort really.

Credits to kehl1

Igor Semshov is played in down the right, he squares to Aleksandr Anyukov who sets up Roman Pavlyuchenko for the finish. A deserved lead for the Russians, which means they will go through as it stands.

Credits to kehl1

Another thrilling, free-flowing move begins with Andrei Arshavin finding Yuri Zhirkov’s rampaging run down the left and Arshavin makes sure he is in the box to slot home the return.

Credits to simaofcp

First International goals from Ruben Del La Red and Daniel Guiza ensured Spain a perfect record in Group D with 3 wins following Thursday night’s 2-1 win over Greece.

Match Highlights will be constantly updated as the match goes on subscribe to our RSS feed to receive live updated highlights from Salzburg.

Team Line Ups

Greece: Nikopolidis, Vyntra, Kyrgiakos, Dellas, Spyropoulos, Basinas, Karagounis, Katsouranis, Salpigidis, Charisteas, Amanatidis. Subs: Chalkias, Tzorvas, Samaras, Giannakopoulos, Goumas, Antzas, Tziolis, Liberopoulos.

Spain: Reina, Arbeloa, Albiol, Juanito, Fernando Navarro, Sergio Garcia, De la Red, Alonso, Iniesta, Fabregas, Guiza. Subs: Casillas, Palop, Capdevila, Marchena, Puyol, Villa, Xavi, Torres, Santi Cazorla, Senna, Silva.

Match Highlights

Credits to walidahmed

Angelos Charisteas heads in from Giorgios Karagounis free-kick. The man who scored the winner in the Euro 2004 final runs to celebrate with keeper Antonis Nikipolidis.

Credits to simaofcp

Daniel Guiza nods a long ball back for Ruben de la Red to smash in a ferocious volley. Keeper Antonis Nikopolidis gets his hand to it but you’d need a brick wall to stop that.

Credits to gradavirtual

Daniel Guiza heads in Sergio Garcia’s cross to snatch the lead for Spain. That’s his first senior international goal and looks like it will earn Spain a 100% record in the group stage - only the seventh side to do that in the Euros.

Credits to gradavirtual