UEFA hails Spain's attacking play

Victorious Spain's open, attacking play at Euro 2008 was hailed by UEFA yesterday with midfielder Xavi reserved for special praise.

Xavi was named player of the tournament while technically gifted Spain had nine players in the squad of the tournament selected by UEFA.

"We have chosen Xavi because we think he epitomises the Spanish style of play," Andy Roxburgh, the head of UEFA's technical team, said.

"He was extremely influential in possession, passing, penetrating kind of game that Spain played."

Spain beat Germany 1-0 in Sunday's final with Fernando Torres scoring an exquisite first-half goal.

"The Spanish team haven't tried to be someone else. They have maintained their philosophy," Roxburgh added.

"To sum up Spanish football - they carry the ball close to their hearts. They love the ball, they love working with the basics."

Luis Aragones's side dominated UEFA's squad of the tournament and Roxburgh said his delegation could have named more Spaniards.

"The first comment our group made was that we should just pick the Spanish team. We could almost have put 13 or 14 Spanish players in here and not have blinked," he said.

Squad of the tournament

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Iker Casillas (Spain), Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands).

Defenders: Jose Bosingwa (Portugal), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Carlos Marchena (Spain), Pepe (Portugal), Carles Puyol (Spain), Yuri Zhirkov (Russia).

Midfielders: Hamit Altintop (Turkey), Luka Modric (Croatia), Marcos Senna (Spain), Xavi (Spain), Konstantin Zyryanov (Russia), Michael Ballack (Germany), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Lukas Podolski (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands).

Forwards: Andrei Arshavin (Russia), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Russia), Fernando Torres (Spain), David Villa (Spain).