SPAIN insist the likely absence of injured striker and tournament top goalscorer David Villa will not stop them winning the nation's first tournament in 44 years when they take on Germany in the European Championship final tomorrow night.
Midfielder Xabi Alonso believes Spain have such depth of talent on the bench that losing Villa – the top marksman at the finals with four goals – isn't going to hurt the team's chances. "I don't think it will be a big problem for us," said Alonso, a
second-half substitute in Spain's 3-0 semi-final win over Russia on Thursday. "Whoever is coming from the bench is doing a great job and that is as important as who is starting.
"The best is yet to come and we need to finish off what we have done so far. We are hungry for success, we want to lift the cup on Sunday."
Villa, who has scored the only hat-trick at Euro 2008 against Russia in Spain's 4-1 win in the group stage two weeks ago, said he would likely miss the final after pulling a hamstring muscle while taking a free-kick in the first half of the semi-final defeat of Russia.
"I'm a little sad that I won't be there to take part, but it's better that a team-mate who is fit plays instead of me, particularly as my injury has left me limping quite badly," Villa said.
The Spanish football federation said last night that the injury was only a "minor muscle strain" but Villa was still in doubt for tomorrow's match.
Midfielder Santi Cazorla also believes Spain have enough talent on the bench to deal with the situation. "We have great players in every position. Whoever plays will do a good job," Cazorla said. Coach Luis Aragones brought on Cesc Fabregas to boost Spain's midfield when Villa came off, leaving Fernando Torres as the sole attacker. The move paid off, with Spain scoring three goals in the second half, two of them set up by Fabregas.
"We are delighted and pleased with the performance," Alonso said. "The result was brilliant. Hopefully on Sunday, we will repeat another performance like that. Let's hope we can play a good match and lift the cup, which would be historic."
Spain have only won one major title: the 1964 European Championship. They reached the final of the same tournament 20 years later, but lost to France.
Germany, on the other hand, have been crowned European champions three times and world champions another three. Furthermore, Spain have only beaten Germany once in seven competitive matches, with four victories for the Germans and two draws.
"They know how to win tournaments, they know how to play these games and we know we have be careful because they are the favourites," Torres said. The Liverpool striker, while playing a key role for Spain, isn't having a great tournament. He has only scored one goal – in the group stage against Sweden – and was replaced by Dani Güiza in the second half on Thursday after missing a string of chances.
Güiza scored Spain's second goal just four minutes after coming on, but refused to speculate on whether he would take Torres' spot in the line-up.
"It would be a dream to play the final with the national team," said Güiza. "But it's the coach who makes the decisions."
Brazilian-born midfielder Marcos Senna said Spain will have to look out for Germany's counter-attacks.
"They are fast and deadly in this kind of game," he said. "I think both teams will try to do what they know. Spain will try to keep the possession of the ball and Germany will try to block and use the counter-attacks to harm us."
Germany coach Joachim Löw feels there will be less pressure on his side going into the final than there was earlier in the tournament.
Germany have not been at their best throughout this tournament, losing to Croatia in the group phase and then struggling past Turkey at the semi-final stage in Basel.
However, with a final spot now assured, Löw feels his players will be carrying less weight on their shoulders than before. "The pressure which was there before both knock-out games is now slipping off the players somewhat, because we are in the final," said Löw.
"During the tournament we have certainly not played as consistently as we intended to, but you saw that was the case with all the other teams. It did not only go that way with us.
"We are now looking forward to this final."
Germany can consider themselves somewhat fortunate to have seen off the challenge of Turkey, who were by far the better side in the first half of Wednesday's semi-final, and were also a match for their opponents in the second period.
But Philipp Lahm's 90th-minute strike sent the 1996 European champions through to another final.
Löw is delighted to have guided his team through to a final in his first tournament in charge of Germany, but the 48-year-old insists he not going to settle for just that.
"There is enormous and extraordinary joy among us, but we are not yet at our goal. We also want to take the final step and lift the title," he said.
"It is a nice experience to be in a final. Personally it is something really special for me and I am enjoying it."
Germany's experience of major tournament finals will give them a psychological edge according to defender Christoph Metzelder.
"I think they (Spain] have a bit of a complex about these tournaments," said Metzelder, who was a standout performer for Germany during the World Cup in 2002. "It has taken them decades just to get beyond the quarters.
"I know they have respect for us and that will be in the back of their minds when we play on Sunday. They are an excellent side but this is a big game and big games have their own rules."
Team manager Oliver Bierhoff said Germany had proved they were worth a place in the final but he was happy enough to hand the tag of favourites to Spain.
"To call us underdogs might be stretching it a little because we've also shown good form here," Bierhoff said. "But if that's what you want to call it, we're comfortable with that. We always prefer playing against strong opposition."
The full article contains 1090 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
