Spain beat Italy in Euro 2012 Final
Swathed in the red and yellow colours of Spain, hundreds of thousands packed central Madrid to give a hero’s welcome home Monday to “La Roja” — the national soccer team that erased the economically struggling country’s gloomy mood by winning the Euro 2012 Championship with flair.
With the celebrated team back, it was time to party for a second straight night. After a 2 1/2 hour open-air bus ride through the fan-packed streets, squad members took to a stage in Cibeles plaza against the backdrop of Madrid’s majestic town hall and danced to pop music while spraying each other with sparkling wine.
“It was a merited triumph, we made history and now it’s time to celebrate it” – said mastermind midfielder Xavi Hernandez, adding that Spain hopes to build on the success of the past four years. “Next we*ll go for the Confederations Cup [2013] and then the World Cup in Brazil (2014), but first we want to enjoy this one.”
Earlier, King Juan Carlos and members of the royal family congratulated the players at the Zarzuela Palace outside Madrid within hours of their returning from Kyiv, where they crushed Italy 4-0 to defend their title Sunday night. The Iberia plane that brought them to the Spanish capital bore the logo “proud of our national team.”
Team captain and goalie Iker Casillas proudly held the tournament cup as he emerged from the plane in Madrid with coach Vicente del Bosque.
Spain.
It left Casillas to lift the trophy in the magnificent Olympic Stadium, the Real Madrid goalkeeper reveling in yet another showpiece triumph for a team many are calling the greatest in history.
“This is such a truly wonderful moment. The second goal from Jordi (Alba) clinched it really” – he told Telecinco television.
“It’s been four marvelous years. You might think that a 4-0 margin against Italy means it was easy – but we have been gradually stepping up as the tournament went along.”
Sunday’s final set the seal on three weeks of competition in Ukraine and Poland at eight match venues and involving 16 teams.
Twenty four national sides will take their place in the next finals in France in 2016 and they will do well to match the overall high standard of attacking play in Euro 2012.
Incidents of racist chanting and violent clashes between supporters from Poland and Russia marred the group stages. But fears of widespread fan violence proved just fears.
Ukraine’s alleged mistreatment of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko also led to threats of a boycott by European political leaders, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel attended their quarterfinal victory over Greece.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rayoy were guests at the final, a welcome distraction perhaps from the economic turmoil engulfing their austerity-hit countries in the Eurozone crisis.
More controversially, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko was also among the dignitaries, despite being the subject of a European Union travel ban.
His invite sparked a protest from a feminist group in Kiev before the final.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2005fVYm8U
Sunday’s Spain vs. Italy match for the UEFA Euro 2012 championship set a new sports-related Twitter record.
According to the social networking site, total global traffic peaked at 15,358 tweets per second when Juan Mata scored the final goal of the match in the 88th minute Spain’s 4-0 rout of Italy.
Many of the tweeters marveled at the fact that Mata had just come in off the bench to score on his first shot of the tournament:
“GOAL! Juan Mata scores having been on the pitch for a matter of seconds. He’s only played a few seconds in the whole tournament. 4-0.” – offthepost.info;
“Part of Spain’s claim to all-time greatness? The great players who never see the pitch. Exhibit A: Juan Mata. 4-0, Spain.” – Josh Elliott, news anchor of ABC’s “Good Morning America” and former co-anchor of ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”
Twitter registered a total of 16.5 million tweets worldwide during the match – and they kept coming after Spain’s repeat championship.
Mata himself tweeted after the game: “Campeooooooooooooooneeeeeeeeeeesssss!!! Championsssssssss!!”
Mata’s Chelsea teammate, David Luiz of Brazil, wrote: “Congrats for my friends @juanmata10 and Torres,You deserve it! Im very happy! Winners the Euro 2012! Big hug geezers.”
Even soccer legend Pele got in on the action, tweeting: “Congratulations to Spain for winning the #Euro2012. Now looking forward to #WorldCup2014 in Brazil!”