EURO 2008 Final Spain have beaten Germany 1-0 with Liverpool’s Fernando Torres sealing the win with a first-half goal to secure the first International trophy for Spains La Furia Roja in 44 years. The game started at a decent pace with both sides trying to take the initiative early-on in the game. Thomas Hitzlsperger had his chance easily saved by Iker Casillas in the Spanish goal early in the first-half, with Michael Ballack fizzing a cross across the goal-mouth soon after, but there were no German players there to meet the cross. Spain almost took the lead in the 15^th minute after Andrés Iniesta’s cross was deflected towards goal by Christoph Metzelder, with Jens Lehmann diving superbly to his right to stop the ball going in. Spain started to take the ascendancy in the match, with Fernando Torres hitting the post in the 22nd minute with a nice headed attempt that had Jens Lehmann beaten. Joan Capdevillas follow-up shot went wide of goal. Each of Germanys attempts were broken down well by the organised Spanish defence, whereas the German defence didn’t seem to fare so well against Spain’s attacks, with Torres and Capdevilla making breaks into the German defence and causing some discomfort to Lehmann and his back-line. Torres opened the scoring in the 33rd minute after Torres beat Philipp Lahm for pace on the edge of the penalty area, and capped off a superb move by sliding the ball past Jens Lehmann’s right hand to make it 1-0 to Spain. Spain continued to take the game to Germany with a neat passing move resulting in Iniesta playing David Silva in, who volleyed high over the bar in the 34^th minute. Michael Ballack was injured in a clash of heads with Marcos Senna, with the German captain having to receive treatment. Both Ballack and Casillas received yellow-cards for confronting the referee as the half came to a close with Spain having spent the majority of the first period in control. Spain continued their dominance in the early stages of the second-half with Torres still causing problems. Ballack forced Casillas into a diving save in the 59^th minute after Kevin Kuranyi replaced Thomas Hitzlsperger as Germany tried to get into the match. Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas was replaced by Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso in the 63^rd min with Santi Cazorla replacing David Silva shortly after. Sergio Ramos has a stunning attempt to double Spain’s lead but his header from a free-kick was saved well by Lehmann. The resulting corner kick saw Iniestas shot being cleared off the line by Torsten Frings much to the relief of the German head coach Joachim Low. Torres continued to cause problems for the German defence with the pace of the Liverpool striker totally outwitting German central defender Christoph Metzelder. Torres was replaced by Daniel Güiza in the 78^th minute with Germany also making their last change of the match a minute later with Löw replacing Miroslav Klose with Mario Gomez. Spain continued to press Germany but couldn’t quite find the second goal with Senna coming close to latching on to a cross from Daniel Güiza that could have sealed the match with just ten minutes remaining. Xavi Hernandez delivered a cross in the 85^th min which led to a free kick being awarded after a tackle by Kevin Kuranyi on Senna but Xavi Hernadezs strike went over the German crossbar. Spain head coach Luis Aragones will now retire having helped Spain to win the first major trophy 1962 when they hosted the tournament in 1964 and last won the trophy.

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