Friday, June 27, 2008


Football
UEFA Euro 2008 Austria-Switzerland
Spanish fans go wild
Afp, Madrid

Spanish fans celebrate their national team's progress into the Euro 2008 final with a placard reading 'We have eaten the spaghettis, now we will have a Russian salad' at the square of Colon in Madrid on Thursday. Photo: AFPThe strains of "Que Viva Espana" rang out across central Madrid Thursday as around 10,000 Spanish fans celebrated their team's 3-0 defeat of Russia in Euro 2008, which they watched on giant outdoor screens.The yellow and red colours of the national flag filled the vast Plaza Colon, where a television channel had set up the screens for supporters to follow the team, who now face Germany in Sunday's final."This time yes, this time champions on Sunday," said Juan, wrapped in a Spanish flag and with a bottle of beer in his hand, who had come to the square with three friends.Chants of "Espana, Espana" and "on day 26, Russia said goodbye" rang out as the match neared its end, and then "Que Viva Espana" as the referee blew the final whistle.The ecstatic fans, many with their faces painted red and yellow, spilled out of the square onto the tree-lined Paseo de Recoletos avenue, accompanied by a cacophony of car horns and watched by bemused tourists.Large numbers of police struggled to keep the traffic moving on one of the city's main arteries.The fiesta however was not as wild as that following Spain's nail-biting quarterfinal win over Italy on penalties."We have a great chance on Sunday" to win the Spain's first major international championship since Euro 1964, Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, who was at the match in Vienna, told television channel Cuatro.Also in the stands were Spain's Crown Prince Felipe and his wife Princess Laetitia."We all loved it, it was calmer after the second goal," the prince told Cuatro.Spain's sporting press unleashed a torrent of praise on Friday for the national team's "dazzling" display in which it demolished Russia 3-0 in the semifinal of Euro 2008 to reach their first final in 24 years."A triumphant symphony," the sports newspaper Marca said of Thursday's victory in Vienna, which leaves Spain facing Germany in Sunday's final.It said striker Cesc Fabregas performed a "recital", and hailed the "great goals" of Xavi, Daniel Guiza and David Silva."Spain raised football to a fine art," said another sports daily, AS, under a huge headline in the country's red and yellow colours and spread over both the front and back pages reading: "Of Course We Can" win the title.Underneath was a picture of the celebrations by "the team which danced against the Russia of Arshavin (referring to Russian playmaker Andrei Arshavin who had a very quiet match)."It was "the perfect match", said the paper said in an inside page."Spain blows away Europe" said Spain's newspaper of record, El Pais.It noted that Spain has reached the final of the European championship for a third time, after beating Russia in Madrid in 1964 and losing to France in Paris in 1984."Just one step from glory," said the centre-right daily El Mundo."If on Sunday against the tough Germans, they can repeat some parts of the symphony they performed in Vienna against Russia," they will be European champions again, it said.The Catalan daily La Vanguardia hailed "marvellous Spain" which "crushed Russia with great football."Beyond the hyperbole, some papers advised caution."La Roja (the reds) are indisputably the best, but be careful, because we haven't won yet," warned Marca.

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