Euro 2008 Team of the Tournament

11:27am Wednesday 2nd July 2008

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Euro 2008 will go down as one of the most exciting football tournaments in living memory. It brought a return to beautiful, attacking football after years of teams winning through organisation and cautious tactics.

Here is my team of the tournament.

Goalkeeper

Iker Casillas He may not have made the most saves or the most spectacular saves in the tournament, but he made important saves at important times to help Spain towards the championship.

Defenders

Sergio Ramos He was solid defensively and offered Spain an extra attacking option down the right hand side. His only mistake was a misplaced pass that nearly let Miroslav Klose in during the Final.

Giorgio Chiellini He played in a poor Italy side but was absolutely outstanding against Spain in the quarter-finals. In three games with Chiellini playing, Italy conceded one goal. In one game without him they conceded three.

Carlos Marchena Along with Carles Puyol, Marchena provided a formidable barrier in front of Casillas. Spain only conceded one goal when Marchena was playing.

Yuri Zhirkov The Russian left-back was brilliant defensively, outstanding going forward and had plenty of stamina; the perfect wing-back. His was always dangerous from set pieces deliveries as well.

Midfielders

Wesley Sneijder For me, he was the player of the group stage. Scored the goal of the tournament against Italy and scored another beauty against France as Holland romped away with the Group of Death. He is, without doubt, one of the greatest attacking players in world football at the present time.

Michael Ballack He was the main reason why Germany made it to the Final. He scored the all important third goal against Portugal as well as a thunderous free kick against Austria in the deciding group game. He was always the most influential player in a German shirt and showed his authority every time he was on the pitch.

Xavi Hernandez Xavi was awarded the official player of the tournament. He was breathtaking in everything he did. He rarely wasted possession and was at the centre of everything Spain did. His performances show why Barcelona are so keen on keeping him when they are letting players like Deco leave.

Marcos Senna Xavi may have been given player of the tournament, but I believe it should have gone to Senna. Senna played the Makelele role' in front of the back four. He did all the dirty work which allowed Xavi, Villa, Silva et al to show their creative brilliance. Senna hardly missed a tackle and never seemed to give the ball away. After his performances, the Makelele role' should be re-named the Senna role'.

Strikers

Andrei Arshavin He may have been suspended for the opening two games, but he showed enough in his three games to create a scramble over him from Europe's top clubs. He scored in Russia's vital group game against Sweden and his performance in that Quarter-Final was one of the all time great individual displays. He may have been quiet in the Semi-Final, but he was being marked closely by Marcis Senna so we'll let him off.

Fernando Torres David Villa may have been the top-scorer but Torres was Spain's leading front man. He unselfishly set up Villa's opening goal of the campaign and his selfless, tireless displays went unnoticed next to Villa's goalscoring exploits. However, Torres got his chance to shine in the final where he scored the winner and gave Germany's defence the run around. He is arguably the best striker in world football at the present time.

Do you agree with the team? If not, create your own and send it in to rE-view. We hope you all enjoyed the tournament as much as we did.