Euro Rewind: Spanish domination begins in Austria and Switzerland

The 13th edition of the European Championships was hosted in 2008 by Austria and Switzerland. Romania were present at the final tournament and lined up alongside France, Italy and the Netherlands in the 'Group of Death'.

In Group C, Italy and the Netherlands progressed, while France and Romania were eliminated. The Tricolours picked up two points after draws with France and Italy, 0-0 and 1-1 respectively, with the match against Squadra Azzurra a sad memory after Adrian Mutu's famous penalty miss against the great Gianluigi Buffon.

In their last match, Romania were beaten 2-0 by the Netherlands. If Mutu had converted the penalty in the game with Italy, the Tricolours could have played in the quarter-finals even against Spain, the future winners of the tournament.

Spain's dominance of world football begins

Under the leadership of coach Luis Aragones, who shortly after the final tournament turned 70 and retired, a team led from the field by heavyweights such as David Villa, Fernando Torres, Cesc Fabregas, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas led many pundits and analysts to say that the generation was the best ever.

2008 was just the beginning of this golden generation for the Spaniards, who put on a show at the next two major tournaments: the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the next Euro 2012, hosted by Ukraine and Poland.

Raul Gonzalez not selected

In 2008, Raul Gonzalez, who continued to make an impact in the Real Madrid attack, had given up his international career in 2006, although many football fans and even pundits believed that the man nicknamed "El Capitan" should still be in the Spain squad.

Coach Luis Aragones stood by his decision not to call up Raul for Euro 2008, where another striker would go down in history. David Villa, who played for Valencia at the time, did not join Barcelona until 2010.

Aged 27 at the time, Villa became the first player in Spanish history to score a hat-trick in an official Euro match. It happened in Group D, where the Iberians progressed alongside Russia, with Sweden and Greece eliminated.

In the duel with Russia, which ended 4-1 in favour of the "Furia Roja", Villa scored a hat-trick and thus joined a select list that includes names such as Michel Platini, Marco Van Basten, Sergio Conceicao and Patrick Kluivert in terms of a player scoring at least three goals in a single official match at a final tournament.

The fourth goal in the Russia game was scored by the then 21-year-old Cesc Fabregas, who was playing for Arsenal. The midfielder scored for the first time in a national team shirt.

The Spain-Russia duel was not only the opener in Group D, but also the start of a real golden era for Spanish football.

Two more narrow wins followed for Aragones' national team, against Sweden and Greece, both of which the Spaniards won 2-1.

David Villa and Xavi the stars

In the match against Sweden, Villa scored the winner with a goal in the 92nd minute, with the score at that point 1-1 after goals from Fernando Torres (15th minute) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (34th minute).

David Villa was the tournament's top scorer with four goals, all in the group stage, while midfielder Xavi was named best player at Euro 2008. The Barcelona legend scored once, in the semi-final against Russia.

Fernando Torres, the striker who had already been playing for Liverpool for a season after the Reds bought him from Atletico Madrid for more than €31 million, a record at the time for the man nicknamed 'El Nino'.

The ambitious 24-year-old also played a key role in 2008, although he was often overshadowed by David Villa.

In the final, Spain met the scary Germany. At the end of a game that was largely dominated by Aragones' side in terms of chances, Fernando Torres, with the flair of a great striker, scored the winner for the Iberians in Lehmann's goal in the 33rd minute.

Iker Casillas also deserves credit for Spain's performance. The former Real Madrid goalkeeper beat his counterpart Gianluigi Buffon in the quarter-final between Spain and Italy, which ended 0-0 after regulation time and was decided by a penalty shoot-out.

Casillas stopped penalties from Daniele De Rossi and Antonio Di Natale.

Another duel with Russia followed, this time in the semi-finals, which the Spaniards comfortably won 3-0 to reach the final.

Marcos Senna, a Brazilian midfielder who obtained Spanish citizenship in 2006 after spending his entire football career in La Liga with Villarreal, also put in a solid performance.

A holding midfielder by trade, Senna often stopped attacks from opposing sides.

Spain's Euro 2008 squad

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Jose Manuel Reina (Liverpool), Andres Palop (Sevilla)

Defenders: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Juanito (Betis Sevilla), Alvaro Arbeloa (Liverpool), Fernando Navarro (Mallorca), Raul Albiol (Valencia), Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal)

Midfielders: Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona), David Silva (Valencia), Santiago Cazorla (Villarreal), Ruben de La Red (Getafe), Xabi Alonso (Liverpool), Marcos Senna (Villarreal)

Forwards: David Villa (Valencia), Sergio Garcia (Real Zaragoza), Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Daniel Guiza (Mallorca)

Team of the Tournament:

Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas (Spain)

Defenders: Philipp Lahm (Germany), Carles Puyol (Spain), Carlos Marchena (Spain), Yuri Zhirkov (Russia)

Midfielders: Luka Modric (Croatia), Marcos Senna (Spain), Xavi Hernández (Spain), Hamit Altıntop (Turkey)

Forwards: Andrey Arshavin (Russia), David Villa (Spain)