SPORTS EDGE

Football
UEFA Euro 2008 Austria-Switzerland
Spain welcome heroes
Afp, Madrid

Spain's Euro 2008 heroes cruise through the chock-a-block streets of Madrid on an open top bus after they returned home from Vienna on Monday. Photo: AFPHundreds of thou-sands of ecstatic flag-waving fans cheered Spain's Euro 2008 players as they were feted in a parade in an open-top bus through Madrid to celebrate the country's first major football trophy in 44 years. The bus in the team colour of red travelled down the tree-lined Paseo de la Castellana avenue, Madrid's main artery, as the crowd chanted "Si, si, si la copa ya esta aqui!" (yes, yes, the cup is now here!). A formation of seven military jets flew over the scene, releasing a cloud in the national red and gold colours. The players stepped off at the central Plaza Colon, where they danced on a stage to "We are the champions." They later joined the crowd in a rendition of "Que Viva Espana!" The crowd also chanted "Luis quedate!" (Luis stay), in a plea to 69-year-old coach Luis Aragones to reverse his decision to quit. Journalists travelling on the team plane said the players had also encouraged him to continue. Earlier, the squad arrived at Madrid's airport in the team plane, marked "Campeones" (Champions), on a flight from Innsbruck, Austria. Aragones and goalkeeper Iker Casillas held aloft the cup -- won in Vienna on Sunday with a 1-0 defeat of Germany -- as they emerged from the plane to the cheers of fans gathered at the airport. "I am a bit emotional today," Aragones told reporters. The players, who celebrated their victory in a Vienna nightclub Sunday, will also be received Tuesday morning by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero at his Moncloa Palace office. Spaniards had earlier partied until dawn Monday in a nationwide fiesta following the match. Around 65,000 people watched the game live on giant television screens in the Plaza Colon Sunday night. Police said they made 52 arrests after the match for acts of vandalism or public disorder in the capital, where a man was found dead in a pool of blood after apparently falling over drunk and hitting his head. Spain's Cuatro television channel reported a record 17.69 million viewers were watching when Liverpool striker Fernando Torres scored the only goal. "Spain has gone crazy," said the top-selling daily El Pais. "Finally!" screamed the Catalan daily Publico in a massive double-page headline."Spain conquers Europe and opens a new era in Spanish football," said Catalan sports daily Mundo Deportivo. "The best team won the tournament and with a more beautiful style of football than any other," the sports daily AS said in an editorial. "The team reached the summit of European football with a generation of young players ... who have swept away the curses of the past and announced a new era full of hope," it said El Pais. Spain last lifted the European trophy in 1964 with victory over the former USSR in what was its only previous triumph at a major tournament. A win against Italy last week ended what was seen as a "curse," in which Spain had lost three times on penalties in the quarterfinals of major competitions, and on the same date, June 22. In Thursday's semifinal, they demolished Russia 3-0.