It has been reported that the disappointment from losing EURO 2012 the Italian players has turned into physical encounter. The news say that on the Italian dressing room was like a battlefield, especially when Balotelli said with irony: "Juventus was the reason we lost the final". Buffon responded him by physically attacking him and Balotelli had to be rushed to hospital from injuries he suffered.
Italy lost the final to Spain with embarrassing 4-0, and the disappointing was obvious in the eyes of Pirlo, Balotelli and Co. Italy should be proud of what they have achieved, they were considered like underdogs but they are the best surprise that EURO 2012 could have offered. Spain after all, are a fierce super-power team.
UEFA EURO 2012 has ended with Spain defeating Italy 4-0. With this achievement Spain has wrote history and stands like the only country who won 3 consecutive EURO's. It will be interesting to see on the world cup if the likes of Brasil, Argentina have what it takes to beat the "back-to-back-to-back" champions of Europe and World. UEFA has also elected the BEST TEAM of this edition of EURO.
Spain has did it. They successfully defended the European Title. The difference in class was more than obvious. Italy looked scared, they never took some courage and a risk, and never looked like a threat for Iker Casillas. He said in case Spain defend the crown he will kiss publicly his girlfriend reporter again. Del Bosque again started the match without classical striker, Fabregas, Xavi and Iniesta all had free roles to play like three half strikers. For the first time in the European Football History a team has managed to defend the crown, CONGRATULATIONS SPAIN. Italy on the other side, looked "blue". But there is no doubt, Italy is the best surprise of EURO 2012. Nobody expected from them to go all the way to the finals, so they should be fairly respected. MATCH STATS: SPAIN 4-0 ITALY David Silva 14' Jordi Alba 41' Torres 84' Mata 88' 50% Ball possession 50% 12 Shots 10 7 Shots on goal 5 5 Shots outside the goal 5 3 Corner Kicks 3
Spain could become the first team in history to successfully defend their European Championship title.
Victory tonight would also see Spain become the first European side to win three consecutive major tournaments following their success at Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup.
Tonight's clash marks the fourth time a Euro final will be contested between teams who have already met earlier in the tournament, following meetings between Greece and Portugal (2004), Germany and the Czech Republic (1996), and Netherlands and the USSR (1988).
Tonight's Kiev final will be the 31st meeting between Italy and Spain. The Azzurri hold the advantage with 10 wins to Spain’s eight.
And Italy head to Kiev unbeaten against Spain at major tournaments (excluding penalty shoot-outs), with three wins and four draws to their name.
Italy coach Cesare Prandelli is also unbeaten in his two games in charge against Spain, with a 2-1 win in a friendly last August to his name along with the 1-1 draw in the opening game of Euro 2012.
Italy are unbeaten in their 15 competitive games under Prandelli, winning ten and drawing five.
Spain haven't conceded a goal in 900 minutes in the knockout stages of a major tournament - a run which started in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008
And Spain boast the best defensive record at Euro 2012, conceding just one goal throughout the tournament, and having just one shot on target against them in their last two games.
Italy have had the most shots at goal during Euro 2012, however, with 99 compared to Spain's 86.
Head to Head
10/06/2012
UEFA EURO 2012
Spain vs Italy
0 : 3/4
1 - 1
11/08/2011
Friendly
Italy vs Spain
1/4 : 0
2 - 1
23/06/2008
Euro2008
Spain vs Italy
0 : 1/4
0 - 0
27/03/2008
Friendly
Spain vs Italy
0 : 1/4
1 - 0
SPAIN LAST 10 GAMES: 9 WINS 1 LOSS ITALY LAST 10 GAMES: 2 WINS, 6 DRAWS, 2 LOSS
PROBABLE LINE UPS: SPAIN [ 4-3-3 ] Iker Casillas Alvaro Arbeloa Gerard Piqué Sergio Ramos Jordi Alba Xavi Hernandez Sergio Busquets Xabi Alonso David Silva Cesc Fabregas Andrés Iniesta
ITALY [ 4-1-3-2 ] Gianluigi Buffon Ignazio Abate Andrea Barzagli Leonardo Bonucci Giorgio Chiellini Andrea Pirlo Claudio Marchisio Riccardo Montolivo Daniele De Rossi Antonio Cassano Mario Balotelli
Super Mario Belotelli is becoming a beast. Will the beast be unleashed once again tonight? Will he score 4 goals as he said against Casillas and Spain? One thing is for sure, Balotelli has become EURO 2012 Chuck Norris edition. His emotions were sky-high after he scored his second goal against Germany. Take a look at some super funny pictures the fans made thanks to their photoshop skills. Plus EURO 2012 final's caricature of the day. Let this be a great warm-up for tonight's UEFA EURO 2012 final match SPAIN - ITALY. DRINKS ✓ FRIENDS ✓
Ahead of Sunday’s Euro final much is being made of the relative midfields and strikers of Spain and Italy. But what about the two keepers - Iker Casillas (Spain) and Gianluigi Buffon (Italy) who go head-to-head. Both are World Cup winners, with Casillas also a European Champion, although Buffon was a beaten finalist back in 2000. Both have a raft of club titles with Real Madrid and Juventus respectively, teams they have stayed with for over a decade.
So who is the best?
Personally I would go for Buffon simply because he is called into action more and has to keep his team in the game, whilst Casillas benefits from a miserly Spanish defence and a midfield which denies the opposition possession. At Euro 2012 Casillas has only faced 12 shots, Buffon has had to deal with 21.
The wanna-be penalty shoot out hero Cristiano Ronaldo is still waiting for his turn to shoot the last penalty kick, and seal the first spot for EURO 2012 finals. Goal.com's cartoonist describes you better how does Ronaldo feel. Fabregas made the decisive penalty and thanks to him Spain overcome in penalty shoot-out the motivated Portugal team. Del Bosque said Fabregas insisted to take that penalty and Del Bosque is proud for doing the right decision. Joao Moutinho and Bruno Alves both failed to score for Portugal and thanks to them Ronaldo will have to wait his turn maybe until the next EURO TOURNAMENT. P.S. Go take a look inside the stadium maybe you'll still see wanna-be hero Ronaldo waiting for his turn :)
The greatest European Football tournmnet is in process. Just like World Cup, girls are highly attending this edition of European Cup. Fans from all over Europe, thousands and thousands of them are watching live matches from Polish cities of Warsaw, Wroclaw, Gdansk, and Poznan and the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, and Donetsk to watch their teams play. Girls are parts of hard-die fans who give their max to support their team. If we had an EURO 2012 sexiest girls TOURNAMNET, which country you'd choose as the winner? Enjoy the Slideshow :)
UEFA has published the best team of EURO 2012 for the previous round (Quarter-Finals). These are the players who made it into the best Quarter-Finals Team: Petr Cech; Philip Lahm, John Terry, Laurent Koscieiny, Ignazio Abate; Joao Moutinho, Andrea Pirlo, Xabi Alonso; Andres Iniesta, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil.
Manuel Neuer Jérome Boateng Mats Hummels Holger Badstuber Philipp Lahm Sami Khedira Bastian Schweinsteiger Thomas Müller Mesut Özil Lukas Podolski Mario Gomez
For the third straight week UEFA has chosen the Team of the Week. We should notice that Cristiano Ronaldo has finally made the into the best team of the last week. Ibrahimovic together with his co-player from AC Milan Cassano are voted like the best attacking duo at least for the previous week's matches. Ronaldo was the hero for Portugal, and he deserved to be into the team, as well as other ten players.
Omar Momani presents us with his latest EURO 2012 caricature of the day. We see how Croatia slowly, with hard fight slips down, we also saw the pointless Ireland singing the Sayonara EURO 2012 song. Greece,Italy, Germany, Spain, Iniesta, Balotelli....MADE IT THROUGH...the FIGHT FOR THE TOP SPOT IS ON..WHO's next to be eliminated? Who is going to make it? WHO IS GOING TO BE CROWNED "UEFA EURO CHAMPION 2012?" Plus follows a picture with interesting ENGLAND stats.
Some tagged her like "The Polish Larissa Riquelme", but no doubt the Polish model Natalia Siwiec is making EURO 2012 more attractive and exciting. We know how Larissa Riquelme used the last World Cup to get on top of her fame, seems like Natalia is going the same road. It's hard to watch football when a girl like Natalia is part of the croud, passionately cheering her team. Enjoy the pics
Who's your favorite, Larissa or Natalia ? Follow the Blog onFacebook
Kharkiv: Portugal boss Paulo Bento will have a fully-fit squad for Sunday`s clash with Netherlands at Metalist Stadium in Kharkiv. The 42-year-old could name the same team that beat Denmark 3-2 on Wednesday, with Helder Postiga retaining his place in attack ahead of Hugo Almeida and Nelson Oliveira. Netherlands have no injury concerns but coach Bert van Marwijk may consider naming a more positive line-up for the must-win encounter. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar could start alongside Robin van Persie in attack, with Barcelona`s Ibrahim Afellay likely to make way. Fenerbahce-bound Dirk Kuyt is also understood to be under consideration for a starting berth in place of Arjen Robben, especially after the latter`s petulant reaction to being substituted in the 2-1 defeat to Germany.
Portugal`s record in 10 previous encounters with the Netherlands is W6, D3, L1, with the solitary defeat coming in a European Championship qualifier in October 1991.
The Seleccao can secure qualification to the quarter-finals with victory, unless Denmark beat Germany 3-2, or by a higher-scoring one-goal margin. A draw will be enough provided Denmark fail to win. Portugal will also qualify if they lose by a one-goal margin and Denmark are beaten.
Helder Postiga`s goal against Denmark meant he became only the sixth player to score at three different European Championships after Jurgen Klinsmann, Vladimir Smicer, Nuno Gomes, Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Fabio Coentrao, Cristiano Ronaldo, Raul Meireles and Postiga are all a booking away from suspension.
Netherlands have won just three of their last nine official games. They have never lost two group matches in a European Championship before.
Bert van Marwijk`s side must beat Portugal by a two-goal margin and hope Denmark lose to Germany in order to progress.
Maarten Stekelenburg (pictured right) is in line to win his 50th cap against Portugal.
Mark van Bommel, Jetro Willems and Nigel de Jong will incur a ban with their next bookings.
