ATLETICO DE MADRID PLAYER SALVIO SIGNS WITH BENFICA

The Argentine International EDUARDO SALVIO has never found a place,  or himself as a player at ATLETICO DE MADRID. Perhaps its because he arrived too young from Argentine Football or simply because he was not given the chance & playing time to show his true qualities.The 22 year old player was given on loan to BENFICA back in season 2010/2011 & was a star of Portuguese Football, which lead to

TRANSFER RUMOURS | REAL MADRID OFFERS 40M€ FOR WITSEL?

News coming out of Portugal ( via the paper "A Bola" ) is that REAL MADRID has returned to put its "signing eyes" on BENFICA 23 year old Belgium midfielder AXEL WITSEL. They go further & announce that negotiations are advanced & that the Spanish Football Club has put on the table a cool 40M€.



Witsel


However, lets all hold our horses. The story coincides right at the moment when the Real

SEVILLA FC SIGNS BRAZILIAN CICINHO

Brazilian 26 year old ALEXANDRO MENDONCA DOS SANTOS, aka "CICINHO", from PALMEIRAS is a new signing for Spanish Football Club SEVILLA FC. The player comes at a cost of 2M€ & signs for the next four seasons.



Cicinho


Sevilla FC Football Manager "Monchi" has a well known reputation for having a fine eye for Football talent. The ex-Sevilla player, now Club Directive, has a history of signing

Points vs Price

Two trains are set to depart at the same time for your given destination. One will take 90 minutes and cost $20 (apologies to UK readers but my keyboard doesn’t have a pound sign), the other will take just an hour but cost $70. In most cases you would opt for the cheaper train, right? The other is faster, but not sufficiently so as to justify the extra cost. Why then, do we often still talk about fantasy points in terms of absolute points earned? Every point you earn comes at cost, namely the opportunity cost of using your limited resources to strengthen other areas of your team. Getting this balance right is the name of the game, and it’s where we’ll start our look back at the 2011-12 season.

Note that in some cases, continuing the analogy, you would want to take the faster train. Perhaps there is a vital metting you need to attend or you are a millionaire and thus $50 is immaterial to you. The same goes for the fantasy world. You may wish to ‘overpay’ for a certain player given his upcoming fixture or you may have sufficient free cash as to allow you more flexibility with your high cost players. Generally these examples will be the elite players and will be discussed at a later date.

For now though let’s take a look at last season, specifically the correlation between price paid and points returned for each position:

Goalkeepers

I’ve long been an advocate of the goalkeeper rotation system, in large part because of this analysis. We can see that the correlation between price paid and points earned is almost nonexistent and every year there are ‘keepers like Michel Vorm or Tim Krul who deliver elite returns for less cash than their expensive counterparts (this doesn’t even account for the fact that significant advantages can be gained from rotating two ‘keepers whose fixtures gel together well).

Last season was no different with the top rated ‘keeper on a points per 90 minute basis (David deGea 4.57) managing to only just top the aforementioned pair of Vorm (4.19) and Krul (4.14). Simon Mignolet (4.28) was even closer though he came with some other issues as Sunderland couldn’t decide what to do between the sticks.

The really persuasive part of the data for me is the downside of those elite players. Managers who don’t favour the rotation system cite the benefit of consistency they get from their elite player and the minimal downside they bring to the table. However, with Cech (3.53) and Reina (3.6) both coming in at significantly below four points per 90 minutes you would have had a decent chance each week of rolling the dice with players like Begovic, Schwarzer or any of the aforementioned cheaper options and still finish head of the stars of the once rock solid Liverpool and Chelsea defenses.

Looking ahead to the upcoming season, there is one name that has the potential to upset the rotation theory: David de Gea. If we plot players’ P90 scores against their 2012-13 prices, deGea suddenly looks well priced:

This ignores of course the opportunities that can be gained from rotating ‘keepers, but with the potential position leader available for 6.0m it at least bears mentioning here. I will shortly be analysing the possible rotation options available so we can touch on this again then.

Defenders
Logic would suggest that defender values would follow the same pattern as with ‘keepers, but the absence of saves - which act as an equalizer for the ‘keepers from weaker sides - is key.

Excluding those who played just a handful of minutes, 20 defenders managed to exceed four points per 90 minutes played last season. 11 of those players play for one of the Manchester teams while a further six play for Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool. That leaves only Baines, Gallas and R Taylor, and with an opening price tag of 8.0m we can hardly call Baines a surprise here. In short then, at the top end of the market, you get what you pay for (to a point), with the above group coming in with an average price tag of 6.1m (and even that is dragged down thanks to the unlikely minutes enjoyed by Johny Evans thanks to an early Vidic injury). Unlike the Vorms and Kruls of the world, who go toe-to-toe with the big names and often win outright, in the defender market you can only hope to be comparatively valuable.

The best method last season then was probably to grab one or two elite performers in the ~6m range (Kompany, Richards, P Jones) and then supplement them with a collection of budget players from good teams getting unexpected minutes (Evans, Hibbert) or rotatable options who enjoy some upside (R Taylor, N Taylor). This is hardly breaking new ground but it’s amazing how many teams you see with either four elite defenders or a total spend of around 22m for their back five, neither of which is likely to be the optimal strategy. We'll get into the mix of players for this year later, but for now I think we can conclude that you should be targeting players from top teams who come at a slight discount and exercise caution when looking at the really expensive 'attacking' players. Budget options can be found every year and should fill out the remainder of the back line.

Midfielders
The correlation between price and points for midfielders is the strongest among all positions (54%) with only Ben Arfa and Sigurdsson managing to join the elite group with a P90 over 6.0:

It's interesting to note that the three players valued over 10m (Malouda, Gerrard and Lampard) all failed to even exceed the break even line with Malouda of course having a particularly disappointing season. As with the defenders above, this just shows that no one is a lock to have success and so early season struggles should be taken seriously and actioned accordingly.

Again, it looks like the best option last season was to pair a couple of elite players with some cheaper options, rather than attempting to create the 'ultimate' midfield which so many managers did. Of the 12 midfielders who cost 9.0m or more, five fall below the average line with three having particularly poor seasons (Adam, Cahill and Malouda), and while it's easy to look back and suggest we 'knew' these players would fail, each at least came with the promise of another successful season.

It is, however, reasonable to conclude that in all likelihood you need to be using a substantial portion of your money in the middle of the park, given the relative reliability of the pricier options. This season, no single player tops 10.0m but we have no less than 12 midfielders costing between 9.0 and 10.0m, making it tricky to differentiate between them all. For now though, we can just conclude that a substantial number of them are likely to deliver the best value for money among the elite.

Forwards
Last season was somewhat odd for forwards, with just five players topping 150 points but then three of those topping 200 (and van Persie topping 250!). P Cisse's ridiculous second half obviously stands out on a value basis, but as we will likely see in the upcoming shots vs goals analysis, it is unlikely that he can continue that kind of form, all else being equal.

One point of note is that the forwards are much closer to the line of best fit, suggesting that a reliable trend might be expected (not necessarily a strong correlation, but a consistent one nonetheless). It's also worth noting though that half of the eight forwards valued at 9.5m or more had poor seasons suggesting a lack of consistency not always associated with the league's elite hitmen (Bent in particular is someone generally considered to be untouchably consistent).

The strategy for spending money on your forwards is probably least clear among all the positions as the top performers in terms of P90 were mid-range picks who came at a price where many of their colleagues failed. Van Persie was generally considered to be a must own player for the majority of last season, but even with that historic season his value was only just above the average line. This shows how hard it is to deliver value at 12.0m and this should be a word of caution for those looking at the Arsenal forward again this year (now priced at 13.0m). As noted in the dubious analogy in the opening paragraphs, sometimes you need to chase points over value, but it's always worth remembering what you need in return to justify your lofty investments.

The above analysis isn't going to win any leagues or give you any sure things for the upcoming year, but I like to start at the bottom and make sure we know what it is we are looking for and remember that good looking prospects can sometimes fail. Oh, and it's great to be back.

LONDON OLYMPIC GAMES FOOTBALL | SPAIN ELIMINATED LOSE 0 - 1 TO HONDURAS

SPAIN was eliminated from the 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES after losing 0 - 1 to HONDURAS in the second match of Group D. Once again the importance of winning the first game of any Football tournament with the Group system comes true as the pressure & the nerves of a "must win situation" in the following match can be a mountain to climb.The Spanish team were unlucky, very unlucky, they hit the wood-work 3

PRE-SEASON | RAJA CASABLANCA 0 FC BARCELONA 8

Pre-season games are just that pre-season fine-tuning with Clubs testing players, especially their youngsters. Yesterday FC BARCELONA ( without their  Spanish Internationals ) travelled to Morocco to play RAJA CASABLANCA. The Spanish Football Club won 0 - 8 & the news - or no news - was that LIONEL MESSI scored a HAT-TRICK with two goals from ALEXIS & one each from ALVES, SERGI GOMEZ & DEUFOLEU.

REAL MADRID US TOUR 2012 PRE-SEASON

Spanish Football Club REAL MADRID flys off today to the United States for its pre-season overseas tour. The whole team, Kaka & Sahin included & the Internationals,  will be in Los Angeles tomorrow except Carvalho who stays in Madrid to clear up this future. 





Real Madrid will train on the UCLA Campus grounds & play four friendly matches:
2nd of August Los Angeles Galaxy
5th of August Santos

LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES FOOTBALL | SPAIN 0 - JAPAN 1

Unexpected start for the SPANISH OLYMPIC
FOOTBALL TEAM this afternoon against JAPAN after losing 0 - 1 in
their Group London 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES match
opener. Yes, the direct red card given in the 41st min to IÑIGO MARTINEZ was maybe harsh in its interpretation & left Spain down with 10 men for the
rest of the game. However, this should not serve as an excuse & serve more as a motivational

REAL MADRID | KAKA - AC MILAN TESTING THE WATERS AGAIN

REAL MADRID & AC MILAN have always had good relations. The rumours that KAKA could return to the Italian Club that made him a "great" have always persisted,  & as weeks pass the rumours looks more & more like a reality.



Kaka with Galiani & Perez


Today Kaka´s  representative-agent Paolillo was seen in Milan visiting the AC MILAN offices. This comes days after Kaka meet with his Coach Jose

ARSENAL OFFERS 20M€ for MALAGA PLAYER CAZORLA

Spanish International & MALAGA FC midfielder SANTIAGO CAZORLA is not happy at his current Club. The recently crowed European Champion charged Malaga for non-payment of contract to the "Spanish Footballers Players Association" (AFE).A strange situation for a Club that finished in Champions League table positions last season & apparently has cash flow problems with other players apart from Cazorla

REAL MADRID - KAKA TALK ABOUT THEIR FUTURE

REAL MADRID Brazilian midfielder KAKA was joined by his father - also his rep - for a meeting with Manager-Coach Jose Mourinho at the "Santiago Bernabeu Stadium" offices around 1.00 pm  this afternnoon. This has sent off a string of rumours  which are exaggerated, pure speculation or coincidental.



Mourinho-Kaka


What is true is that Kaka & Real Madrid need to co-ordinate their future & make

FC BARCELONA - NEYMAR | DONE BUT WHEN?

Wondering what's up with Brazilian & SANTOS Football player NEYMAR & his connection with Spanish Football? Remember last year the REAL MADRID almost done deal? 



Neymar


The lastest from local Spanish press & Sports media is that FC BARCELONA is the next destination for Neymar. The deal is said to cost Barça 60M€, that is,  the amount that Santos will receive from the Spanish Club. 
The

ARSENAL THINKS IN FERNANDO LLORENTE

This piece of news out of Great Britain & ARSENAL FC is not new & again hits the local Spanish Football papers & media.



Fernando Llorente


The "Gunners" seek to have an alternative if Van Persie finally leaves the Club this summer. A name sounding loud to replace the Dutch striker is Spanish International & ATHLETIC CLUB BILBAO forward FERNANDO LLORENTE. According to the the English paper, "

Welcome back

Here we go again. Enjoy your last few stress-free Friday evenings, fill your mind with philosophical musings about the meaning of life and soak up those precious sun rays while you still can (that one might not apply to readers in Manchester), for we all know those freedoms will end in just a mere matter of weeks.

The annual release of the pl.com player price list marks the start of the footballing season for me, and that landmark event is now in the rear view mirror for 2012 (By the way, how is this day still not a public holiday? Honestly, wouldn't you have preferred a day to tinker with your team than watch Tom Jones and Suggs sing to the Queen?). It's also the first time in a couple of months that I've faced the reality of a Bolton-less Premier League, though I'm sure most of you will get over that one quicker than me. Silver lining fans may well note that at least I will avoid the twinge of guilt when a small part of me is satisfied with a Van Persie goal, despite the dire consequences it may have in real life for the Wanderers.


As far as the game itself goes, there is little to note. Team structure, rules and scoring remain the same, though the ability to earn an assist for winning a free kick may be new (I honestly can't remember last year's rules). So it's as you were and time to delve into the player list, right? Well, no. The first games are still a month away and we would expect some transfer activity before then, not to mention the possibility of injuries at the upcoming Olympic games. There will be time for specifics in later posts, but in the next couple of weeks or so I'm going to focus on last year.


I considered writing a series of 'what we learned' pieces at the end of the season but, honestly, I figured by that point people are ready for a break and not really looking forward to 2013. There was also the slight prospect of rule changes etc rendering such efforts moot and thus I stayed away. Now the pitches have been laid and the goalposts set, it's time to start getting serious.


I'm on vacation for the next couple of weeks, with potentially spotty internet access (can one enter a fantasy team from the Galapagos Islands?) but I will be writing throughout, possibly adding a number of posts in a short time frame on my return. A few ideas to look forward to are:

• Where best to spend your money - relative value of each position
• How to structure an opening day squad - play the fixtures or aim for the best team?
• Trends in how and when points are scored - distribution of clean sheets, goals etc by gameweek
• Risk vs reward - an update to the FFS piece on points consistency and upside.
• Cracking the forecast code - what contributes most to a good weekly fixture? A player's score to date, form, or opponent?
• Potential regression targets for this season - players who converted chances at a particularly high or low rate could be expected to see some regression to the mean in the coming season.
• Cheap defensive links - cheap players who have a shot at playing time on more expensive defensive units.

Those last couple are more player focused and so will likely come in August with the big picture stuff popping up as soon as possible.

Hopefully you're as excited for the new season as I am, and thanks for coming back to the blog. As always, I'm very open to new ideas, particularly at the start of the season, for analysis that would be helpful on a weekly basis so feel free to post in the comments or @plfantasy with any thoughts.

REAL MADRID TRANSFERS GAGO - CANALES TO VALENCIA CF

REAL MADRID Argentine International midfielder FERNANDO GAGO, on loan to AC Roma last season, was sold & transferred to VALENCIA CF today. Along with Gago who signs for 4 years, young REAL MADRID player SERGIO CANALES, also on loan to Valencia, was "thrown" into the package but in this particular case with a buy-back preference clause. The deal puts into the Real Madrid bank account around 9M€

SPANISH FOOTBALL PROMISE | JESE

Continuing with posts that highlight some upcoming & bright young SPANISH FOOTBALL talent, today we give the stage to JESE RODRIGUEZ RUIZ. Born in the Canary Islands back in 16.02.1993 the player was brought over to REAL MADRID CF when he was scoring more than 100 goals a season at the junior levels at Club Hurracan. 



Jese

Big talent that is accompanied by a "hot" character the youngster is

SPANISH FOOTBALL PROMISE | OLIVER

Couple of days back I did a post on young Barça & Spanish Football talent Gerard Deulofeu. This time around & continuing with Spanish Football promises, here is another name to list. OLIVER TORRES of just 17 years of age & crowned U-19 European Champions with Spain last Sunday.



Oliver


The "kid" is a midfielder & admires Xavi & Iniesta, so much so, that the player moves & pushes the ball like

UEFA BEST PLAYER 2011- 2012 CANDIDATES | NINE SPANISH PLAYERS

UEFA has revealed its list of 32 players elegible to be prized the "Best European - based - Player" for season 2011-2012. Seven players on the candidate list are from REAL MADRID & four are from FC BARCELONA. Apart from Clubs their are nine Spanish born Football Players, including the now veteran Raul Gonzalez.On the 14th of August UEFA will announce the three finalists after 53 associations of

SPAIN WINS U-19 EUROPEAN TITLE

SPAIN keeps up with its winning ways in European Football claiming the U-19 EUROPEAN TITLE after defeating GREECE 1 - 0 in the Final. Extraordinary year for Spanish Football at all levels, with the Female Spanish U-19 team nearly winning their U-19 Final yesterday against Sweden ( lost 0 - 1 extra-time) which would have put the cherry on the cake.



Jese for Spain

Take note of these names as

30 MOST VALUABLE YOUTH PLYERS WORLD 2012

Portugues Football Finance web "Futebolfinance" has an interesting post which lists the Top 30 Valuable Youth Players in World Football for 2012. Brazilian Neymar heads the list , but there are 4 Spanish Football players in the Top 30 : Thiago Alcantara, David De Gea, Iker Muniain & Bojan Krkic. Check out the full list below.




Thiago


The 30 most Valuable Players Youth World 2012

# Player

FC BARCELONA | DEULOFEU THE FUTURE

I have given the youngster a couple of posts already. However, I will like to remind you to keep track & an eye on 18 year old FC BARCELONA player GERARD DEULOFEU.



Gerard Deulofeu

The "kid" is possibly the best placed future promise at Barça & perhaps in Spanish Football. Deulofeu has been calling the attention throughout the lower levels & is progressing in an extraordinary manner. The

REAL MADRID TRANSFERS | MODRIC VERY CLOSE, KAKA ALMOST GONE

The Croatian International & TOTTENHAM HOTSPURS midfielder LUKA MODRIC is "stealing" the headlines of most of the Spanish Sports newspapers & other media channels.The news coming in is that REAL MADRID & the player have total agreement in joining this season & playing in LA LIGA. The Spanish Football Club is currently dealing & negotiating with SPURS to shut the deal which is rumoured around 40M€

EURO U-19 SEMIS | SPAIN WINS FRANCE IN PENALTY SHOOT OUT

Marvellous run of wins & achievements for SPANISH FOOTBALL National Teams in all levels. The U-21 Team are the current European Champions, SPAIN won 10 days back the European Nations Cup & this afternoon-night the SPANISH U-19 TEAM won FRANCE 3 ( 4 ) - 3 ( 2 ) in the European semi-final. Spain will meet Greece in the U-19 European Championship Final & attempt to pull off a special string of

DAVID SILVA SENDS SIGNALS TO REAL MADRID ?

Could it be really true? Can one really interpret that Spanish International & MANCHESTER CITY 26 year old midfielder DAVID SILVA is making signs to REAL MADRID? Apparently this is the "in-between the lines" speculation by English newspaper "Daily Mirror", which says that the refusal by Silva to renew his contract with City maybe a tactic to pressure his Club.



David Silva

It is believed, or

SPAIN WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS | TWO YEARS AGO TODAY

Two years ago exactly on this day 11th of June SPAIN won its first ever FIFA WORLD CUP title defeating Holland 0-1 in extra-time with a now historical goal from Andres Iniesta. To live some of those memories again watch this video tribute to SPANISH FOOTBALL & its NATIONAL TEAM.

SPANISH FOOTBALL LIGA FIXTURE 2012 - 2013

All the Spanish Football - Liga agents have agreed today & have finally settled the SPANISH LEAGUE FIXTURE for season 2012- 2013. Below is a diagram in Spanish which gives a birds-eye view of the big matches:- Start of LA LIGA ( Round 1 ) - 18/19 August
- 1º leg of Spanish SuperCup - 23 August
- 2º leg of Spanish SuperCup - 30 August
- Spanish Cup Final - 18 of May 2013
- End of LA LIGA ( Round

REAL MADRID TRANSFER RUMOUR | KAKA ASKS REAL MADRID TO EASE HIS EXIT

The future of REAL MADRID player KAKA is still giving talk & news headlines. From Italy, concretely from "Corriere dello Sport", Kaka is said to have approached Coach Mourinho & asked that he do his best to facilitate his exit from the Spanish Football Club. That basically means that Kaka asks Real Madrid to lower their transfer price pretensions as to allow another Club to consider his signing.

AMARELLE GOAL VS UKRAINE | SPANISH FOOTBALL AMAZING GOALS

Check this amazing overhead bicycle goal from Spanish player AMARELLE. Amarelle was representing SPAIN against UKRAINE in the Beach Soccer match & put in this superb goal that was unstoppable.

TRANSFER RUMOURS | FC BARCELONA IS NOT FORGETTING JAVI MARTINEZ

Been sounding for weeks now, FC BARCELONA has´nt given up on its idea of incorporating ATHLETIC CLUB BILBAO & Spanish International JAVI MARTINEZ. The player is liked by new Barça Coach Tito Vilanova & sees the player as a great promise to fill the Central Defender - defending Midfielder positions. Matrtinez, apart from being still young, is very versatile & has an attacking Football spirit the

SEVEN SPANISH PLAYERS IN "KICKER" IDEAL EURO 2012 TEAM

European & German Football magazine "Kicker" has published their Ideal 11 Euro 2012 Team. Their are 7 Spanish Football players, 2 Portugues , 1 German & 1 Italian in the "Kicker" team. 



Spain Euro 2012 Champions


The Spanish names are Iker Casillas, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Andres Iniesta & Cesc Fabregas. The other names are Pepe & Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Sami

JORDI ALBA NEW FC BARCELONA PLAYER

This post - picture goes out to all the FC BARCELONA fans around the World. Yes, its the revelation player of the Euro 2012 tournament, JORDI ALBA, with his new Club outfit on & being presented  to media as the new Barça signing. The man goes over from VALENCIA CF at a real bargain, only 14-15M€, for the next 5 years.First "big" signing for Barcelona for the new 2012-2013 season.



Jordi Alba

THREE SPANISH FOOTBALL PLAYERS WITH GOLDEN BALL AWARD ODDS

The talk about the "Golden Ball Award" candidates & favourites at this time of the year is obviously premature. However, it is inevitable after we have been blessed with the recently finished Euro 2012 tournament along with all the World star players on stage. 

In recent days, France Football has done its marketing strategy-tactic aimed at the Spanish Market, announcing that Spanish Goalkeeper &

EURO 2012 STATISTICS

Found this interesting info-diagram with some statistics about the EURO 2012 competition. Plenty of Spanish Football Players in representation, but it has a bit on all the teams & thus enters the realm of World Football interest for all fans.Hope you enjoy!



Euro 2012 statistics

FIFA RANKING | SPAIN CONSOLIDATES Nº1 SPOT

The World Football governing body "FIFA" has released its monthly ranking (June-July) of the Football
Nations. It´s no surprise to see SPAIN consolidate its Nº1 position after recently
winning the European Nations Cup. There is a notable drop in positions for Holland
which was knocked out early in the Group phase of the Euro competition.





Spain Euro 2012



Here is the top 10 Football

IFFHS WORLD CLUBS RANKINGS JUNE | FC BARCELONA ON TOP

The FIFA backed "International Football Federation of History & Statistics" (IFFHS) has released their World Clubs rankings for the month of June 2012. There are 4 Spanish Clubs in the top 10, with Barça & Real Madrid leading the table with Nº1 & Nº 3 respectively.Chilean Club Universidad sits in second place.



FC Barcelona


Here are the Top 10 ranked World Clubs according to the IFFHS for

IKER CASILLAS | FRANCE FOOTBALL CALLS FOR "GOLDEN BALL AWARD"

The "inventors" ( back in 1956 ) of the "Golden Ball Award ", France Football, has come out publicly today to defend Spanish National Team Goalkeeper IKER CASILLAS & let drop that perhaps it is time that the Spanish Captain receive the Award.The accolades have been close to perfect for any Football professional: "...for  the breathe of his work & the length of permanence at at the Top, but for

OLYMPICS 2012 | SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM U-21 LIST

SPANISH NATIONAL U-21 FOOTBALL TEAM Coach Luis Milla has handed in today his list of 22 players that will represent SPAIN in the upcoming London Olympic Games. The 
current U-21 squad is the reigning European Champions & is full of top World class
players who are regular members of European elite Clubs.

Three in the list have recently been crowed "European Champions" after participating 
in the

SPANISH FOOTBALL | ANDRES INIESTA 2012 EURO MVP + EURO IDEAL TEAM

Perhaps it is the moment to finally give the next FIFA World Player Award to FC Barcelona & Spanish International player ANDRES INIESTA. Many feel - myself included - that Iniesta should have been given the 2010 Fifa World Player Award instead of Lionel Messi after his great FIFA World Cup performance with winning goal included. The Spanish midfielder has been announced the 2012 Euro MVP player,

EURO 2012 FINAL | SPAIN 4 - ITALY 0 | SPAIN MAKES FOOTBALL HISTORY WINING EURO TITLE

SPAIN has made Football History after defending & winning ( retaining ) the 2012 EUROPEAN NATIONS CUP 4 - 0 against ITALY in the Final.Never before has a team (nation) won the "triple crown" : Euro 2008- Fifa World Cup 2010 & now Euro 2012. The below team pictured as the starting 11 has managed to shut many mouths - happily mine as well - throwing into the rubbish bin criticisms about internal

EURO 2012 FINAL | SPAIN - ITALY POSSIBLE STARTING 11 LINE-UPS

SPAIN will attempt tonight to win back-to-back European Nations Cup titles & thus create History as the only National squad to win Euro (2008) - World Cup (2010) - Euro (2012). If they can manage to defeat the difficult & inform ITALY in tonight's FINAL this SPANISH FOOTBALL NATIONAL TEAM will certainly go down as the "Greatest Football Team in History" overtaking the unbelievable 1970 Brazil