In a fairy-tale ending to a fantastic event, Spain claimed their second European Championship edging past Germany 1-0 in a tense yet open encounter at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna on Sunday.

Dumping the monkey of being the perennial underachievers off their back and ending a 44-year-old drought, the Spanish armada lifted the European title – being the first team after France in 1984 to win every game in the tournament.

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Big finals have a terrible history of not living up to the build-up, but fans at the 13th European Championships were rewarded with a scintillating display of football from both sides on Sunday.

After a nervous beginning, the Spaniards got stuck into Germany, putting slick passes together and depending on the pace of Fernando Torres.

The strategy finally came good in the 33rd minute with Torres taking a brilliant run to a fascinating climax, scoring the only goal of the final.

From then on, Spain proved too strong in attack and defence for Joachim Loew’s men to break down, as the wily Luis Aragones – who becomes the oldest coach to win the European Championship - marshaled the troops to perfection relying on Fernando Torres’ pace in attack and maintaining a strong backline led by Sergio Ramos.

In contrast, the Germans began strong and flagged for a bit, conceding the goal. Thereafter, they seemed to be chasing the game all through, finally ending second best on the day.

Although disappointed, Loew’s stint with Germany has begun strong and he will be pleased with his side's performance to reach the finals.

The real setback, however, comes for the brilliant Michael Ballack, who once again suffers the fate of being the bridesmaid and failed to bag international silverware.

First-half report

Sunday’s action began with the pageantry of the closing ceremony to mark the end of what has been one of the most exiting tournaments in recent memory.

A unique set of triangular towers of balloons representing the 16 teams began the evening with a strange Viennese waltz while Enrique Iglesias gave his rendition of the tournament’s official song for the packed house and the players waiting to burst out of the tunnel

With the national anthems out of the way, both sides got down to business, with both of them making some promising early moves but the Germans looking stronger.

Miroslav Klose was the first to get through after Sergio Ramos gifted him the ball at the edge of the box. But the German overran the ball letting Casillas off.

Lahm and Schweinsteiger then got stuck into the Spanish, but the move yielded little. Moments later, Michael Ballack broke through but was well tackled, after which Thomas Hitzlsperger let a weak one fly straight into the hands of Casillas.

Just when it seemed that the Germans had managed to get a number of players involved in the action, constantly pressing the Spaniards back into their half and into a defensive mode, Aragones’ men came inches close to opening the scoring against the run of play.

Andrés Iniesta made good use of a Xavi delivery to cut in across the defender and flick the ball which took a wicked deflection off Mertesacker, forcing Lehmann into a superb reaction save in the 14th.

Moments later it took a solid intervention from Trosten Frings to bring to an end another promising Iniesta effort, which was followed by Fernando Torres cutting lose, but losing the plot as he got near the box and being out-muscled by Mertesacker – as Spain began to settle down and find their footing.

The 23rd minute then saw them make the best of their stint of domination as Torres rose above the German defenders to head in a brilliant ball by David Silva. However, the unlucky Spaniard only managed to find the post, although a diving Lehmann would argue that he had it covered.

Two minutes later, the Germans gave Spain a minor scare as they needed a brave Ramos to bare his chest to a thumping Ballack drive. The ricochet saw the Spaniards break with pace but they were unable to create a meaningful chance.

The game clearly opened up after a reasonable beginning with both teams going for broke but the defenders denying them any cheer. Another example of that was Torres’ 29th minute run, which saw him being brilliantly cut down by Mertesacker.

Torres, however, got back his own as he bagged the first goal of the finals in the 33rd. Xavi’s ball ahead found the striker in perfect position, and then the pacey Torres galloped past Lahm and Metzelder to chip the ball past a charging Lehmann.

As Vienna seemed to be drowned in a sea of yellow and red, Iniesta nearly ensured that Spain got a second. But his flick to Silva was concluded with a terrible volley that sailed high and wide.

Germany then suffered another blow with Ballack momentarily going off to patch-up a wound above his right eye toward the end of the first half. However, with the inspirational skipper back on, the Germans retained possession as they hunted for an equalizer, earning back-to-back corners, although neither yielded much.

Moments later, tempers were flaring to add some ugly drama to what has thus far been a footballing treat. The Italian official, who had been fairly kind until then, attempted to nip it in the bud, but eventually ended up booking both skippers.

A minute or so to go for the 45, Germany, particularly Ballack, looked frustrated as Spain were again on the move with Iniesta once more wreaking havoc from the left flank. But this time, he had to settle for a corner, which they failed to take advantage of.

That was the final move of consequence as the referee blew for the break with Spain looking to be in command and the Germans slightly flagging and fading beginning to look lost for ideas – although it would be foolhardy to count them out just yet.

Second-half report

Germany began the second half with an interesting change as Joachim Loew benched Lahm to bring on Marcell Jansen, apparently punishing the fullback for letting Torres through for the goal.

The three-time European Champions, however, struggled in the early goings with Torres again launching into dangerous runs in the early goings. A measure of how the Germans were losing it came in the 51st, as they gifted the ball to Spain in their half, although they didn’t really pay for it.

Spain were again on the attack moments latter, but shots from Xavi and Silva were off the mark, and the Torres was at it again in the 55th as he sprinted toward goal but was well held by Mertesacker as Lehmann charged ahead to claim the ball.

Sensing the lack of creativity and penetration upfront, Loew then pulled off Hitzelsperger from the midfield to bring on a striker in Kevin Kuranyi in the 57th.

Two minutes later Carles Puyol’s lackadaisical effort in the left flank against Podolski saw the ball ending with Ballack just outside the box. The German skipper’s thunderous strike, however, was just wide off the post.

That mistake by Puyol seemed to lift the Germans as they launched a series of offenses in the next three minutes through a combination of moves involving the impact players like Schweinsteiger, Ballack and Kuranyi.

Sensing the growing threat, Aragones decided to make a change of his own, pulling off Fabregas for Xavi Alonso. The substitution was followed by an imploring German appeal after Silva bumped heads – faintly though - with an argumentative Podolski in the 63rd.

The referee, however, held firm and calmed things down, while Aragones pulled off Silva to bring on Santi Cazorla.

Moments later the Germans got the scare of the tournament as Sergio Ramos caught the Germany’s backline napping off a Xavi freekick in the 67th and pounded a header into goal, but Lehmann was up to the task – clearly Germany’s old man was earning his jersey in Vienna.

That followed a Spanish corner, which ended up rattle the outside of the German goalpost and then Iniesta curled in a strike again to be denied by Lehmann.

As the clock continued to tick away, the Germans struggled to create chances while Spain failed to add to their advantage with Torres’ running riot but being cut down by the defenders.

With about 12 minutes remaining, there was a double change as Germany brought on Mario Gomez in place of Miroslav Klose while Aragones pulled off Torres for Daniel Guiza.

Spain then came terribly close to nailing shut any hopes of a German comeback in the 82nd, as Xavi crossed in to Guiza who played it on for Marcos Senna, but the holding midfielder failed to get a touch, which would have sent the ball into an empty net.

Minutes ticked by and it seemed that Aragones could feel the new European trophy in his hands and the Spanish fans began to realize that the much-awaited is possibly finally here.

Three minutes were added on and the Germans were no closer to pushing the Spaniards into extra time. As the clock wound down to the 94th minute, the referee finally decided to call it a day and pronounce the eventual.

Spain had outplayed the Germans and most importantly held their nerve for the better part of 60 minutes to finally lift a major international trophy, while the Germans continued to build a strange legacy of winning and losing alternate European finals.

Teams:

Spain:

Iker Casillas, Carlos Marchena, Carles Puyol, Joan Capdevila, Sergio Ramos, Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, Marcos Senna, Cesc Fábregas, David Silva, Fernando Torres.

Germany:

Jens Lehmann, Christoph Metzelder, Arne Friedrich, Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Torsten Frings, Michael Ballack, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski