Eurowatch: The final

'El Niño' will never have to use his wallet in a Spanish bar after scoring the goal that ended his country's 44-year wait for a trophy.

His goal was typically predatory, brushing aside Philipp Lahm's weak challenge before prodding the ball beyond Jens Lehmann.

Luis Aragones's talk of Torres winning World Player of the Year might be a bit much, but he certainly merits consideration.

And to think that this time last year some people doubted whether he would fulfil his potential.

Cesc Fabregas finally got to start a meaningful game - thanks to David Villa's injury - but was Spain's least impressive midfielder.

Where he had morphed into a virtual second striker against Russia, Fabregas found space harder to come by and dropped increasingly deep before going off just after the hour mark.

Xabi Alonso came on for Fabregas as Spain looked to shore things up in midfield and did a sound enough job, using the ball tidily and leaving the flashy stuff to others.

Pepe Reina and Alvaro Arbeloa were unused substitutes but looked happy enough and no doubt took a full part in the post-match drinking.

Doubts over Michael Ballack's fitness subsided early on as his calf injury proved a red herring. However, he failed to assert himself yet again.

Bizarrely, the Chelsea man has become more effective for club than country. Was most noticeable when rolling around bleeding profusely from the eyebrow.

Ex-Arsenal man Lehmann had a decent game, but Gooners would have nodded in recognition at his petulant shove of Xabi Alonso. And his post-match criticism of referee Roberto Rosetti was a bit graceless.