Hamburg  - If expectations were weighing heavily on the shoulders of Luis Aragones, he was not showing it. Stepping before the assembled press on the eve of the European Championship final, the coach of Spain knew it was time his country delivered.

Spain had reached the Euro 2008 final undefeated, but failure had defined the country's national football team for decades.

Not since winning the 1964 European title had Spain won a major tournament, and the national team had suffered defeat to France in the 1984 European final, the last time it had gone so far.

Now Aragones and Spain were up against the tournament team par excellence: Germany, winners of three World Cups and three European Championships.

It was time for the under-achievers to beat the over-achievers.

"Nobody remembers the guy that comes second," said Aragones.

"Sometimes people speak of those that are nearly there. To be nearly the champions is not enough. A final - you've got to win it because the ones that come second have nothing."

Spain's players duly carried that determination out onto the pitch at Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadium. For once the Germans did not seem to have the same sense of purpose. While Aragones was meeting the press before the final, the Germans were in a state of uncertainty. Their talismatic captain Michael Ballack had suddenly suffered a calf injury and was a doubt even on the day of the game.

Ballack was eventually passed fit but Spain ran out 1-0 winners thanks to a 33rd-minute goal from Liverpool striker Fernando Torres. It was more one-sided than the score suggested.

Spain's players threw Aragones into the air in celebration after the final whistle. Their win capped a tournament, often unpredictable and dramatic, which had exceeded expectations. Positive football triumphed over negative play.

Teams such as defending champions Greece and world champions Italy were punished for their lack of enterprise, the Italians eventually ousted by Spain in a penalty shoot-out.

The Dutch dazzled for three matches until meeting the exciting Russians - who then bowed out to Spain - while Turkey surprisingly went as far as the last four, only for a side depleted by injuries and suspensions to fall unluckily 3-2 to Germany.

Turkey's semi-final defeat will be particularly remembered by armchair viewers, after a thunderstorm over Vienna caused a temporary blackout of global TV coverage in the closing stages of the game.

Spain's performance was also reflected by the selection of nine players in UEFA's team of the tournament including Torres, top scorer David Villa and the midfielders Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Cesc Fabregas.

Russia's contribution was highlighted with the selection of a quartet of players including the outstanding strikers Andre Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko.

UEFA president Michel Platini praised the tournament, while looking with some consternation at the ability of co-hosts Ukraine and Poland to organize the Euro 2012 event.

"When you arrive at the end of a tournament you say thanks to people and I would like to thank the players and the coaches because they have given a very good image of European football," Platini said.

One team not at the party in Austria and Switzerland were England, who had failed to qualify under Steve McClaren but are now experiencing better fortunes in the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign under Fabio Capello following the Italian's appointment at the end of 2007.

But at club level it was a different story with an all-English Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea in Moscow in May.

United had just edged Chelsea to a 10th Premier League title, their second in succession, and then got the better of the Londoners in a dramatic penalty shoot-out in Moscow.

Chelsea captain John Terry, with the chance of winning the game, missed from the spot, to give United a 6-5 penalties win after the match had finished 1-1 after extra-time.

The defeat sealed the fate of manager Avram Grant who was sacked after less than a season in charge, with Chelsea turning to Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari, who duly stood down as Portugal team coach.

Jose Mourinho, who had been out of work after his relationship with Chelsea club owner Roman Abramovich broke down the previous September, found a new job in June as coach of Inter Milan.

The Italians had sacked Roberto Mancini 11 days after he led the side to their third consecutive Serie A title - just one of the many coaching comings and going throughout the year. Spain's Aragones himself stepped down after the Euro 2008 triumph to become coach of Turkish side Fenerbahce.

Russia's renaissance was meanwhile underlined by Zenit St Petersburg's triumph in the UEFA Cup where they beat Glasgow Rangers 2-0 in the final in Manchester. Zenit were unable, however, to replicate their form in the current Champions League where they failed to progress to the knockout phase.

Elsewhere in Europe, Real Madrid under Bernd Schuster won the Liga - and their first back-to-back titles since 1990 - as well as the Copa del Rey.

Lyon captured France's Ligue 1 for a seventh successive time, while in Germany, Bayern Munich led from start to finish to win the Bundesliga by a 10-point gap, saying farewell to Ottmar Hitzfeld who left to take over the Swiss national team.

In January, Bayern had announced the appointment of former star striker Juergen Klinsmann as successor to Hitzfeld who was able to leave the club with a fifth league title and a third domestic double.

The year began with Egypt retaining the Africa Cup of Nations when Mohamed Aboutrika scored the only goal of the match for a 1-0 victory over Cameroon in Accra, Ghana.

Following Euro 2008, the focus then turned to the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, where an indifferent start to the South American qualifiers by Argentina led to the appointment in late October of former great Diego Maradona as the national team coach. (dpa)