RAVIPAN PAVASUTHIPAND

At long last, Spain are finally champions.

Luis Aragones' team were brilliant to watch throughout the tournament and their triumph over Germany in the final was a fitting end to a great Euro 2008.

Spain's players put to rest their past failures and took home the European Championship trophy to a rapturous welcome from fans at Madrid's Plaza de Colon. Few could argue they're not deserved champions.

Every time a major tournament comes around, Spain are usually talked up as one of the favourites. This time was no different.

With talents like Xavi, Iniesta, Senna, Fabregas, Torres, Villa and Ramos in their squad, Spain's chances were rated and most genuine football fans believed that this could be their tournament after all.

However there was still fear that they wouldn't do it because of all their past under-achievements.

I was one of those who had doubts about Spain. We knew all about their talented players but there were good reasons why they had not won any major tournament since the 1964 Euro Championships.

This time, though, Spain proved they really were different. While the quality of the Spanish players in the past could be debatable, this time the talent was certainly there.

And maybe it's because this time Spain also have players playing abroad. That's why they were able to adapt to different styles and different demands. And without the Raul-factor the players were given an opportunity to step up and take responsibility.

From the start of the tournament, there were flashes of brilliance from Holland, Portugal and Croatia. And I thought at one stage that the Dutch could go all the way before I briefly entertained the idea that Russia might win it.

But Spain were absolutely fantastic throughout the tournament. Special praise should go to Aragones, who at 69, became the oldest coach to lead a team to the Euro title.

The veteran coach has taken a lot of criticism from the Spanish press over the last few years but he fought his way back and had the last laugh.

Spain had a great opening match against Russia and completely dazzled them with superior skills. They held on fiercely against Sweden to score an amazing final goal.

They came through against a very defensive-mind Italians. In the semi-finals Spain once again proved too strong for Russia and showed their defensive superiority by shutting down Andrei Arshavin, who was becoming quite a player during the course of the tournament.

In the final many feared Spain would suffer a serious bout of stage fright. But apart from a shaky opening 10 minutes, Spain simply dominated at both ends. Germany had a little spell in the second half where you thought they just might get back into the game but it wasn't to be. And Spain just drove them to madness with their accurate passing during the final 20 minutes.

Michael Ballack must be one of the unluckiest players of all-time. The German captain, who perhaps was not fully fit in the final, again had to settle for the second place and his face when he came up to take the runner-up medal told the story. Ballack was the one world class player in an average German side but he just lacked the top quality players around him.

In defeating Germany in the final, Spain put an end to 44 years of failure of frustration.

Coming up against physically superior opposition in the final, Spain's ability to retain possession, utilise space and produce defence-splitting passes undermined their opponents.

The Germans were left chasing shadows at times.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said during the tournament that he thought at the time that this could turn out to be the best European Championships so far and I think he wasn't far off. There was less diving, few players hounding the referees and a lack of time-wasting and all this contributed to an excellent advertisement for European football.

On top of it all, Spain taking home the Henri Delaunay trophy with all their brave, positive, attacking football really made this such a enjoyable tournament.