Spain triumph Euro finale

Fernando Torres fired Spain to Euro 2008 glory against Germany and ended 44 years of underachievement with a 1-0 victory.

Torres struck in the 33rd minute at Ernst Happel Stadion and despite the efforts of Germany skipper Michael Ballack, they held on to their lead to spark wild celebrations in Austria's capital.

Heavyweights in European football who produce a constant stream of individual talents, Spain had not won a major tournament since 1964 but finally shook off their tag of being chokers, not able to cope with the pressure of the highest stage.

Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann could do little about the goal that Torres scored to put Spain ahead. Xavi threaded the ball through and the Liverpool man did superbly to escape the attentions of Philipp Lahm before dinking the ball over the outrushing Lehmann and into the net.

Spain had a chance to go 2-0 up soon after but the unmarked David Silva badly fluffed his volley after being picked out by Andres Iniesta inside the area.

After the break the Germans sparked into life, with Ballack hitting the side-netting of Iker Casillas' goal with a volley from the edge of the box soon after, before the Chelsea man and Bastian Schweinsteiger both fired in dangerous crosses.

The match threatened to boil over in the 65th minute when Silva and Lukas Podolski went head-to-head, but despite the appearance of a butt from the Spain man, he escaped a card.

Spain very nearly doubled their lead in the 67th minute when Sergio Ramos broke the offside trap to power a Xavi free-kick goalwards with his head but Lehmann diverted the ball for a corner.

From the corner Iniesta saw his shot cleared off the line by Torsten Frings, before the Barcelona man was denied by Lehmann with another effort soon after.

Luis Aragones' side still looked the more likely scorers over the closing stages and, with Germany producing nothing to worry Casillas in the Spain goal, the Iberian nation deservedly walked off with the Henri Delaunay trophy.