For the 3rd time in their 5 U-21 final appearances, the Spanish have claimed the European Championship title.
In doing so, they confirmed the reason for their being favourite prior to the start of the tournament, and host country Denmark were treated to a fantastic goal from Thiago.
16,000 people watched the final in Aarhus, as Spain secured a confident and commanding victory over a Switzerland side who had not conceded a single goal in the earlier rounds of the tournament.
On 41 minutes, Spain took the lead through an Ander Herrera header from a great Didac cross. The 1-0 scoreline stood until 9 minutes from time, when on 81 minutes, Thiago (son of Brazilian 1994 World Cup winner, Mazinho, scored a wonderful free kick from over 40 yards having spotted the Swiss keeper, Sommer, off his line.
Manchester United fans will have been particularly interested to see how David de Gea, Spain's young stopper, performed. Expected to complete a Ł17m switch from Atletico Madrid, he made only one save of note on 28 minutes when was he was forced to repel a volley from the dangerous Xherdan Shaqiri.
Despite being held back for much of the second half, Switzerland almost levelled the match on 79 when Timm Klose headed narrowly wide of the target from Shaqiri's free-kick.
In the end, the Swiss effort proved ineffectual as Thiago's effort put the polish on a fine couple of weeks for the young Spanish side.
Adrian claimed the Golden Boot award as the tournament's top goalscorer with 5 strikes to his name. Both Spain and Switzerland will now take part in the Olympic games in London, alongside Belarus who's U-21 side defeated the Czech Republic U-21s earlier in the day in the 3rd/4th placed play off.
Footnote: I am most sorry for the delay in posting information about this fixture! Yesterday was a very hectic day.
Spain has ended 44 years of hurt by winning Euro 2008 in a thrilling 1-0 victory over Germany through a solitary goal from Liverpool striker Fernando Torres at the Ernst Happel Stadion.
The sensational 33-goal striker for the Reds last season outpaced and out-muscled Germany defender Philip Lahm before deftly lifting the ball over the onrushing Jens Lehmann to score what would be the only goal of the final in the 33rd minute.
The 1-0 scoreline, however, will not do the Spanish any justice at all as they utterly dominated proceedings from the first whistle and despite letting the Germans dominate for a ten-minute spell in the second half, always looked more likely to score with Torres hitting a post with a thumping header in the early minutes of the first half and Jens Lehmann producing a brilliant save to keep out Sergio Ramos' bullet header after the break.
In the end, the biggest winner was football with the best team who played the best football throughout the tournament (and also scored the most goals and conceded the least) deservedly winning the Henri Delaunay trophy.
Aragones will now step down as national head coach but with such a talented young squad, Spain are already marked down as the favourites for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Spain are through to the final of Euro 2008 - their first appearance in a final in 24 years - after ending Russia's dream run with a convincing 3-0 win in Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadion.
Luis Aragones' men dominated proceedings from the get go and attacked the Russian defence relentlessly but had to wait patiently for the breakthrough which inevitably arrived in the second half. Midfielder Xavi opened the scoring with a well-timed run into the box to meet Iniesta's cross in the 50th minute.
Spain continued to dominate with the inspirational Cesc Fabregas - on for the injured David Villa - in fine form and dictating play while Liverpool hero Fernando Torres' had mixed fortunes in front of goal, missing two great opportunities, before Aragones had seen enough and replaced him with Daniel Güiza to great affect.
The two substitutes combined for Spain's second goal of the evening, a lob from Güiza which sailed over Russian keeper Igor Akinfeev after good work from Fabregas.
The Arsenal midfielder then played a part in his side's third goal when he threaded a perfect ball for rumoured Liverpool target David Silva to finish off the Russians and send the Spanish contingent into delirium.
Spain's tactic of playing with five midfielders and Fernando Torres in attack, which came about due to David Villa's injury, played a huge role in the victory in which Xavi, David Guiza and David Silva got the goals.
The Russians were completely outclassed and like their previous encounter with Spain in the group stages, they lost to a 3-goal deficit. However, fans should still be proud of their team's achievements which have exceeded all expectations this tournament. Their 3-0 demolition of highly fancied Netherlands in the quarter finals will remain one of the highlights of Euro 2008.
Two-time European Champions Germany has booked the first final berth of Euro 2008 with a classic 3-2 win over injury-ravaged Turkey at St Jakob-Park in Basel.
Despite fielding a severely weakened side, Turkey started brightly and opened the scoring through Ugur Boral in the 22nd minute. However, their dominance did not show when both teams headed into half-time with the scores level after Bastian Schweinsteiger equalised for Germany.
The second half was a much tighter affair but Germany striker Miroslav Klose made the breakthrough with a glancing header only for and Semih Senturk to score a late equaliser for Turkey.
The Turkish have proven themselves an obstinate opponent in their three previous matches but credit to the Germans' tough mentality, they refused to give Turkey the upper-hand despite extra-time looming. They were duly rewarded with a third goal in the last minute of normal time through Bayern Munich full-back Lahm, who kept his composure after being picked out by Hitzlsperger to fire a shot past Rustu into the top corner to spark wild celebrations.
World Champions Italy have been drawn in the same group as France and Holland for the European Championship finals next summer in Austria and Switzerland.
The draw is based on European qualifying so the Italians will play France in a repeat of the 2006 World Cup final in the last Group C game despite progressing from the same qualifying group. Group C is the tournament's ultimate group of death.
France coach Raymond Domenech had complained of the seeding system before the draw and he will now have a tough task to get his team through to the quarter-finals.
The draw was made at a ceremony in Lucerne, Switzerland which featured former European Championship winners such as Franz Beckenbauer, Michel Platini, Marco Van Basten and Jurgen Klinsmann.
Steve McLaren's 15-month tenure as England head coach - the briefest of any full-time England coach - came to an abrupt end on Thursday morning (GMT) after England's disastrous exit from the Euro 2008 Championship.
In the aftermath of England's 3-2 defeat by Croatia, the Football Association held an emergency board meeting the morning after and made an unanimous decision to terminate the contract of McClaren and his assistant Terry Venables with immediate effect.
The FA's chief executive Brian Barwick admitted McClaren's failure to qualify for Euro 2008 cost him his job.
'It was a board decision - it was unanimous." he said.
"I spoke to Steve this morning - we get on very well with him. I've had many grown-up conversations and had another one with him this morning - and I can only wish him well.
But in the end, not qualifying for Euro 2008 comes up short. Qualification for a major tournament is probably a minimum requirement." he added.
McLaren took over as manager of England after the departure of Sven Goran Eriksson on August 1st 2006 to very little public backing. He had been involved with the England setup for many years as assistant coach prior to his appointment as head coach and many felt that he had been hastily appointed due to the lack of candidates available to the FA at the time.
Despite being given two chances to qualify for the finals in Austria and Switzerland, McLaren and his men wasted both opportunities with completely inept performances to miss out on qualification for a major tournament for the first time since the 1994 World Cup.
It took years for the last manager that failed to lead the country to a major tournament, Graham Taylor, years to rebuild his reputation and there is no doubt that it would take even longer for Steve McLaren, who now has the unenviable record of the highest percentage of games lost as manager at 28%.
England's Premiership stars will be spending the next Northern Summer somewhere on a beach in the Maldives after failing to qualify for the Euro 2008 Championship finals this morning (AEST).
Needing only a draw to go through, an English 4-3-3 attacking side were 2-0 down against Croatia, a side that had already qualified, inside 14 minutes after goals from Niko Kranjcar and Ivica Olic.
Manager Steve McLaren paid a heavy price for dropping regular 1st choice goalkeeper Robinson and former captain David Beckham as it was the former's replacement that made a howler to set the visitors on course for victory.
After David Beckham was introduced for the second half, team spirit and morale seemed boosted which launched England into a comeback through a Frank Lampard penalty and a 65th minute strike by Peter Crouch following an exquisite Beckham cross.
Thereafter, England chose to sit back and protect the scoreline as a draw would have been sufficient. But alas, the Croatians had other ideas when Mladen Petric came off the bench to fire in a 77th minute winner to send England packing.
Consequently, Russia were the 16th and final team to reach Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria next June after Guus Hiddink's men leapfrogged England in Group E with a nervy 1-0 victory in Andorra.
Sweden, Turkey and Portugal all made it through to next year's final via the final round of qualifying with a win over Latvia in Stockholm, a 1-0 home over visitors Bosnia and a 0-0 draw against Finland respectively.
The 16 teams to make it through to the Euro 2008 Championship Finals are:
Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Greece, Spain, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Croatia, Italy, France, Sweden, Turkey, Portugal and Russia.
Israel's surprise 2-1 win over Russia in a Euro 2008 qualifier has boosted England's chances of making next year's finals dramatically.
Omer Golan scored the vital injury-time goal in Tel Aviv which means Croatia qualify for next year's tournament where they will be joined by England if they manage to avoid defeat against the Croatians at Wembley on Wednesday.
Had the Russians beaten Israel, England who have had next to no chance in qualifying for next year's finals with lowly Andorra their next opponents in the final game of the qualifying campaign.
The home side took the lead through Elyaniv Barda's goal, but Russia hit back and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov scored a deserved equaliser with half an hour to go. By this time, the Russians were dominating and had a shot hit the post before Golan beat the keeper in a one on one in the 92nd minute to put England in the driving seat for qualification once again.
Scotland suffered qualification heartbreak when Italian defender Christian Panucci's injury-time header from a harshly-awarded free-kick saw Italy and France qualify.
In Group C, Turkey leapfrogged Norway into second place after a 2-1 victory in Oslo while reigning European champions Greece demolished Malta 5-0 with Theofanis Gekas hitting a hat-trick in Athens.
In Group D, Germany claimed a 4-0 victory over Cyprus but the Czech Republic beat Slovakia 3-1 to retain top spot in the group.
In Group E, Estonia won 2-0 in Andorra while Macedonia claimed a shock win over leaders Croatia.
In Group F, Denmark's qualification hopes were ended by Northern Ireland after they failed to hold on to the lead given them by Nicklas Bendtner.
In Group G, Holland secured qualification after a 1-0 win over Luxembourg while Bulgaria boosted their own hopes with a 1-0 win over Romania in Sofia.
Thierry Henry broke Michel Platini's national goalscoring record and put France on the brink of Euro 2008 qualification by grabbing a late double against Lithuania.
The Barcelona striker was level on 41 goals with the great Platini at the start of the match but netted twice in the final 12 minutes to go two clear in the national team scoring charts, sparking wild celebrations by players and fans.
With Scotland losing to Georgia, France had an even bigger reason for celebration as they went top of their group and know a win against Ukraine in their final game will send them to next summer's finals.
In contrasting fortunes, England are on the brink of missing out on Euro 2008 qualification after losing 2 - 1 to Russia overnight.
The Three Lions had taken a 29th minute lead through a spectacular Wayne Rooney goal and looked to be cruising in confidence until the Manchester United striker went from hero to villain.
On the 69th minute, Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo spotted Rooney's tug on the shirt of Zurianov and pointed to the spot. It was a harsh decision as television replays showed the foul happened outside the box.
Up stepped substitute Pavluchenko who dispatched the penalty past England goalkeeper Paul Robinson to equalise for Russia.
It went from bad to worse for England just four minutes later when Pavluchenko fired in from close range after Robinson could only parry Alexei Berezutsky's shot into his path for his second goal of the evening.
The result left England in tatters as Russia are now only two points behind with a game in hand. With the Croatians virtually assured of qualification, all English hopes are heaped on Israel to get a result against Russia in their next game.
However, a Russian win should effectively end England's hopes of reaching next year's finals.
Germany became the first team to seal a place at the Euro 2008 Championship when they drew with nil-all with Ireland.
Despite the draw, the result left the Germans three points ahead of the Czech Republic in Group D and eight clear of third-placed Ireland, who have two games left and are very unlikely to qualify.
Group B remains the most enthralling with Italy and France in danger of missing out on a place at the finals despite wins. Scotland defeated Ukraine 3-1 and are the surprise leaders of the group on 24 points.
Italy beat Georgia 2-0 while the French recorded a comprehensive win over Faroe Islands in a 6-0 rout. Goals from Nicolas Anelka, Thierry Henry, Benzema (2), Rothen and Ben Arfa all got on the score-sheet.
England recorded their fifth 3-0 victory on the trot in their game against Estonia at Wembley Stadium. Chelsea winger Shaun Wright-Phillips opened the scoring in the 11th minute thanks to a superb through ball from defender Micah Richards.
In the 32nd minute, Wayne Rooney finally ended his England goal drought with a somewhat fortunate deflected goal and a minute later Taavi Rahn completed the scoring -albeit an own goal - with a superb diving header from outside the box.
With Germany's National team facing two Euro 2008 qualifiers, Jogi Loew is facing injury woes for his team. Miroslav Klose is out with a thigh injury. The injury came earlier in Bayern Munich's season when Klose was fouled by Werder Bremen's Naldo. He re-aggravated the injury in a recent Bayern match. Tim Borowski has now pulled out of the Euro qualifiers with back problems. Veteran and leader, Bernd Schneider, will be unlikely with a knee injury that has caused him to miss several of the latest Leverkusen matches.
Since Klose is injured, it is likely we will see Loew start Kevin Kuranyi alongside Lukas Podolski in Dublin and against the Czech Republic. The two will be Germany's attacking duo since Klose will be absent for some time. Podolski hasn't had a great start to his season after coming back off injury for Bayern Munich, but for Germany, he has regained some of his form.
The matches ahead will probably prove to be a tough test for Germany in their Euro 2008 quest, but they are a force to be reckoned with. They know their strengths and they have great command on the pitch. The team works well together even when formidable players, like Klose, are out due to injury. Others missing are Michael Ballack, Philipp Lahm, Christian Pander, and Thomas Hitzlsperger.
Podolski has said Germany wants to win the title and that they all want to play better than they have in the past that has lead to them coming out of the qualifiers in the group stage. Perhaps the good news is that the DFB plans to keep Loew on through the 2010 World Cup. Perhaps this gives the German side something to look forward to and of course, gives Jogi Loew something to fight for to prove, more so than he already has, that he could be what it takes to get Germany the titles.
Meanwhile, World Cup runners-up France suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Scotland at the Stade de France.
Despite dominating the first half, the French allowed Scotland's lone striker James McFadden to score a glorious 30-yard drive in the 63rd minute to give Scotland all three points.
In other games, wins were recorded for Lithuania, Italy, Moldova, Turkey, Wales, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Spain, Iceland, Bulgaria, Netherlands and Slovenia.
England got their European Championship campaign back on track with a spirited 3-0 victory over Israel at the new Wembley Stadium.
Missing a host of regulars including Frank Lampard, John Terry and David Beckham and with players returning from injury, many thought that England would struggle to salvage their near-disastrous start to Euro 2008 qualifying but the stand-in players did their job well.
Shaun Wright-Phillips had a great game on the right-wing in the place of David Beckham and scored his first competitive goal for England to open the scoring.
Emile Heskey, a surprise inclusion in the squad missed an absolute sitter to double England's lead before going into the break but had a good overall contribution.
After the game, Michael Owen formally announced his return to the international stage after an injury hit 2006-07 to score a marvellous twist and turn volley.
Defender Micah Richards rounded off the scoring with a thumping header in the 66th minute by which time England were cruising and goalkeeper Paul Robinson rarely threatened.
In other matches, Portugal and Poland fought out an exciting draw and wins were recorded for Scotland, Hungary, Norway, Czech Republic, Germany, Russia, Croatia, Latvia, Slovenia, Netherlands and Romania.
Real Madrid midfielder David Beckham played his first competitive game in 11 months to inspire his England team-mates to a 3-0 victory over minnows Estonia in their Group E qualifier over-night.
The former England captain was recalled for the friendly against Brazil last week and the must-win clash against Estonia and impressed in both matches which included three pivotal assists for the last three goals (out of four) scored by England.
England dominated possession in the early stages of the game, but an organised Estonia outfit was able to nullify the attacking threat imposed on them until a moment of brilliance from Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole broke the deadlock in the 37th minute.
Cole controlled a headed pass from Crouch on his chest before swivelling past Dmitri Kruglov and rifling a half-volley past Mart Poom.
Class.
But the night belonged to "Goldenballs" who fired in deadly accurate balls from the right time after time - all this despite picking up an early knock on his left ankle.
England continued to press knowing a second goal had to be scored to seal the tie for good and in the 54th minute, Beckham duly delivered with an exquisite cross from the right that landed just behind the Estonia defence for Peter Crouch to score his 12th goal in 19 international appearances.
Beckham, however, wasn't done yet and soon after delivered another brilliant cross from Lampard's pass for Michael Owen to seal the 3-0 victory.
Soon after, Beckham was given another standing ovation when he was subbed off due to his slight injury - the England fans clearly grateful for the inspiration he has injected into the side upon his return to the team.
Talismanic Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard saved England and Steve McLaren's job with a brace in his side's 3-0 win over minnows Andorra in a Euro 2008 qualifier overnight.
After failing to breakdown Andorra in the first half, Gerrard took matters into his own hands by scoring the opener in the 53rd minute when Ashley Cole nodded Lennon's far post cross to Rooney, who flicked it neatly sidewards for Gerrard to launch a 20-yard volley into the bottom corner.
By now, England were at ease with a huge weight lifted off the players shoulders after failing to score a single goal in a number of matches and soon after, the England vice-captain doubled his side's lead.
Gerrard raced on to a clever touch by substitute Jermaine Defoe to slide a precise finish past keeper Alvarez in the 75th minute to make it 2-0 before substitute David Nugent, on his debut, ran into slot home Defoe's shot which was about to slither over the line in the last minute of normal time.
However, the 3-0 scoreline did very little to please frustrated fans who had just witnessed one of England's worst ever performances in a dull and uneventful first half.
And it took just 20 minutes for the English fans to turn on their manager and players with chants of 'You'll be sacked in the morning', 'Bring back David Beckham' and 'You don't know what you're doing" ringing around the stadium.
Andorra played with 10 men behind the ball at all times and did their best to ruffle some feathers with a vast array of underhand tactics such as pushing and elbowing, with England striker Wayne Rooney the main recipient of such poor gamesmanship.
The Andorrans managed to achieve their objective and Rooney's frustration threatened to boil over on a few occasions which that led to his booking just before the hour mark.
The yellow card for his spat with Oscar Sonejee rules him out of the June 6 trip to Estonia.
McLaren, sensing that his star striker's temper could lead to a red-card, quickly hauled off his player and replaced him with Tottenham's Jermaine Defoe.
Despite the 3-0 scoreline at the final whistle, the English fans continued to jeer off their team and quite rightly so.
Anything but a high scoreline and dominant display was never going to be enough against Andorra and England never delivered.
The Latest from the England camp: England midfielder Frank Lampard will miss tonight's (28/3 20:00 GMT) clash with Andorra in a Euro 2008 qualifier due to injury.
The Chelsea player was set to play alongside Liverpool's midfield general Steven Gerrard in the heart of England's midfield but a fractured wrist sustained during training has ruled the midfielder out.
Owen Hargreaves, who had reportedly been dropped from the starting line-up in favour of Lampard's inclusion, will now start in the 'must-win' game against Andorra.
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