Spanish soccer team gets a hero's welcome

THE BEST: UEFA named Xavi Hernandez the player of the tournament at Euro 2008.

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Keywords: Spain, Euro 2008

New Delhi: Spain's European champions returned home to a hero's welcome. And nothing less was expected. After all, this was a country starved of footballing success.

But, in the space of three weeks, the fans have an unforgettable memory to cherish forever.

Fittingly the plane that brought them home carried the tag a nation had been waiting for over four decades - Champions of Europe.

The victory after 44 years meant the fans went delirious with joy as most had only experienced the despair of heart-breaking defeats in major competitions.

So it was a time for them to celebrate and let the world know of their joy.

No one is grudging Spain their victory. The team wasn't just unbeaten through the tournament but played an eye-catching attack brand of football.

Even Europe’s football bosses were rich in their praise as they named Xavi Hernandez the player of the tournament at Euro 2008.

"In actual fact the first comment the group made was that we should just pick the whole Spanish team. You know the starting XI and a couple of players that always appear. We could almost have put 13 or 14 Spanish players in here and not have blinked," UEFA's Technical Director, Andy Roxburgh, said.

So even as workers cleaned up Vienna after a memorable three weeks of action; its clear that a new footballing superpower has emerged.