Euro 2008 ratings (France Football)

Villa, Torres and Arshavin in the semi-finals Spain vs Russia (4-1)

Euro 2008 ratings, team of the tournament and top players by position with descriptions (from FF n° 3247 Spécial Bilan Euro 2008).

THE FINAL :

GER

------------------Lehmann-----------------
-----------------------6-----------------------
------------Mertesacker--Metzelder-----
Friedrich--------4----------4--------Lahm
----5--------------------------------------4---
------------Frings-------Hitzlesperger----
---------------6---------------------5---------
---------------------Ballack------------------
-------------------------5----------------------
Schweinseiger------------------Podolski
---------5-------------------------------5-----
---------------------Klose--------------------
------------------------5-----------------------54 coach : Löw.


SPA

--------------------Torres--------------------73 coach : Aragones.
-----------------------8------------------------
Silva----------------------------------Iniesta
--6----------------------------------------7---
------------Xavi------------Fabregas-------
--------------7-------------------6-------------
---------------------Senna--------------------
-------------------------7-----------------------
Capdevilla--------------------------Ramos
----6--------------------------------------7----
------------Marchena----Puyol-------------
------------------6------------6-----------------
--------------------Casillas-------------------
-------------------------7-----------------------


From the bench :

Lahm by Jansen (46th min.). Jansen 5.
Kuranyi for Hitzlsperger (58).
Gomez for Klose (79).

Xabi Alonso for Fabregas (63).
Cazorla for Silva (66).
Güiza for Torres (78).

referee : Rosetti 7.
Match : 16/20.
(1-0 for Spain, Torres).

Team Stats :
Shots : 4 - 13
On target : 3 - 7
CK. : 4 - 7
Fouls : 22 - 19
Off-sides : 5 - 4
Poss. : 33'15'' - 33'12''

Highlighted player : Senna. The short comment refers to Aragones at the same time as the one who had the good idea to naturalize him. On Senna, in gross : wonderful combination of finesse and power.

In the semi-finals RUS-SPA, the highlighted player was Fabregas. He entered the pitch after 35 min of play instead of Villa and gave 2 assists (2-0 by Güiza then 3-0 by Silva, final score. Xavi had scored the opener at the 50th, assisted by Iniesta).
Fabregas had the best rating with 7 étoiles, like his teammates Iniesta and Ramos.
The best-rated Russian player was Zhirkov with 6 étoiles.
Totals : 58 against 73.



ETOILES (outfield players) :
1. Podolski 37
2. Iniesta 36
3. Ballack 35
4. Lahm, Senna 34
6. Zhirkov 33
7. Torres, Xavi, Pavlyuchenko 32
10. Klose, Silva, Semak, Zyrianov, Altintop 31
15. Metzelder 30

ETOILES (goalkeepers) :
1. Lehmann, Casillas 32
3. Buffon 27
4. Akinfeev 26
5. Ricardo 22
6. Sar, Boruc, Lobont, Isaksson 29
10. Pletikosa 17



FF TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT :

-------------------------Casillas-------------------------
---Ramos------Puyol-----------Pepe--------Zhirkov
--------------------------Senna---------------------------
-----------Altintop--------------------Modric------------
----Schweinsteiger----Villa---------Silva-------------

"Team made by taking in account the classement des étoiles as well as our special reporters' observations at pages...".

The following is about these pages were FF ranks the players by position (top 5) and also lists the disappointments.

FF TOP 5 by POSITION (using quotation marks will not mean that it will be always complete quotes from the article but it will be almost complete, all the essential remarks will be there).


KEEPERS :

"Casillas and the others"

1. Casillas
2. Van der Sar
3. Buffon
4. Boruc
5. Akinfeev

"Casillas never looked as strong as now at 27 years old. If he could have done better against Sweden on the Ibrahimovic's goal, the Spanish captain has dominated the rest of the competition reassuring his team with his catchings of the ball and his astonishing reflexes. In the Q-F's he won by 2 saves to 1 in the pso against Buffon. He always dives on the right side. Then against Russia he made a spectacular horizontal save on a Pavlyuchenko's attempt.
Behind him, it has to be the experienced and hard-wearing Van der Sar always solid and assured like against Italy of Toni and France of Benzema.
Buffon knew a little alert on a shot by Senna by releasing the ball onto his post but Italy would have probably not go through the first round if he had not saved a pk of Mutu with the hand and the foot against Romania.
Boruc, then, was the winner of a dozen of face-to-face with German, Austrian or Croatian strikers.
At last the Russian Akinfeev, in spite of 7 goals conceded against Spain has contributed to the good tournament of his team.
The old Turkish goalkeeper Rüstü, sub at the start of the tourney could have featured in this ranking thanks to his Q-F against Croatia during which he gave an assist for the Semih Sentürk's equalizer at the last second before to stop the pk of Petric. But his failed aerial intervention in front of Klose in the next round broke the magic."

The disappointments :
"If Germany reached the final, it's not thanks to Lehmann who is not beyond reproach on the two goals conceded to Turkey. But the biggest blow in the tournament shall go to Cech who precipitated the Czech Republic's elimination by releasing a slippery ball in the feet of the Turk Nihat."


SIDE-BACKS :

"Huge Zhirkov"

1. Zhirkov
2. Sabri
3. Pranjic
4. Lahm
5. Sergio Ramos

"He's the other Russian revelation of the tournament and given his age (25 years in August) he may have as much or even more offers than Arshavin. Lined-up at left-back by Hiddink, Zhirkov has rolled over the Greeks, Swedes and Dutches by his incessant courses, his calls for the ball, his dribbles, his crosses. Always in the right tempo, always pin-point technically and physically huge. But his big defensive difficulties against Spain underlined the obviousness : he is not a real left back.
The Turk Sabri makes the ranking almost for one single match (Ger-Tur 3-2), but his defensive and offensive performance in the S-F's was so huge that it is impossible to forget him.
The Croatian Pranjic, partner of Modric in the combinations also made his name by his finesse and his accelerations though he often had trouble to finish his matches.
The German Lahm, filled his role with determination. He has suffered against the Turks but his mental made the difference at the end of the match and his goal saved his team. However, his responsabilty is involved on the goal of Torres in the final.
At last, the Spanish Sergio Ramos has made talk his experience, his solidity but also his talent by having a nice offensive match against Russia.
We could have cited Corluka as well, the twin of Pranjic on the right side or the Lyonnais Fabio Grosso, one of the few Italians who did not disappoint."

Disappointments :
"Marcell Jansen struggled completely. Sagnol did not have the physique to play such a competition and Abidal never entered the competition. Seitaridis was far from his level of 2004. Bosingwa was not the announced star. The Czech leader of Milan AC Jankulovski could not avoid the mental explosion of his team against the Turks."

CENTRAL DEFENDERS :
"The class of Pepe"

1. Pepe
2. Puyol
3. Chiellini
4. Marchena
5. R. Kovac


"Amongst the favorites, Portugal stopped in the quarter-finals. One player was not unworthy though. Cristiano Ronaldo? No, Pepe, the Real Madrid's defender. Always well positioned, intransigent in the duels, reassuring and precise in the first pass, the Portuguese was one of the rare of his team, with Deco, to hold his own.
Difficult to not talk in this ranking about the complementarity and efficiency of the Spanish Pair Puyol-Marchena. Combavity and ardour of the first and rigor and sobriety of the second. Together they muzzled the Italian Toni and closed the Russians Pavlyuchenko and Arshavin down.
The Italian Chiellini features in the revelations of this Euro as well. The young defender of Juve, who plays lateal in club, has benifited from the injury of the captain Cannavaro - of which he is inadvertendly responsible - and of the Materazzi's fail against The Nethelands in order to imose himself in the Italian back-line. With him, Italy took only one goal against Romania, France and Spain.
The two Croatian central defenders, Kovac and Simunic equally rocked, in spite of some slowness whereas the Russian Kolodine, redoubtable against The Netherlands, missed a lot to his team in the semi-finals".

Disappointments :
Finalists of the last World Cup, the italian Materazzi and the French Thuram swallowed water against the Dutch strikers' liveliness. Both began the tournament as starters and ended it on the bench. Without being catastrophic, the Greeks Dellas and Kyrgiakos did not provide to the outgoing champion the same defensive serenity as in 2004.


DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS :
"Senna, the cornerstone"

1. Senna
2. Altintop
3. Semak
4. De Rossi
5. Frings

"The Spanish Makelele, positionned before the defense, was the cornerstone of the system Aragones. Tireless cleaner, bringing up the ball, he's the man of the first impulse. A big heart, a beautiful vision of the game, a resistance that often made him finish the games better than he started it : the Villareal player reaveled himself at this level.
The Turk Altintop is the true playmaker of his team. Elegant, able to switch from right back to defensive midfielder, and to finish the games as a playmaker, his work-rate, his vision of the game, his tactical sense and his technique have impressed.
The Russian Semak, former PSG player, for his part has played with sense of positionning, with anticipation, the quality of the first pass and his ability to efficiently participate in the offensives in order to realize a great tourney.
De Rossi brang coherence and solidity to the Italian game.
At last Torsten Frings, protector of Ballack in the first games, then absent during 2 games and half through injury, came back at the end of the race in order to hold an essential role.
We could have cited the tall Dutch man Orlando Engelaar as well, magnificient of power and of combativness in the first round, but he sank in front of the Russians.
At last the Greek Angelos Basinas, fluid player and combative, is the only representant from the champions 2004 who was able to extricate himself".

Disappointments :
Firstly, obviously Patrick Vieira, who did not play a single minute and cruelly missed to "Les Bleus". Toulalan was for his part a bit just physically so he could not avoid that his game looked muddled. Pirlo had no more fuel. Lining up Chivu, the Romanian captain, at a midfielder position, it's spoiling the goods of a superb central defender. Tobias Linderoth, the Swede, announced as the leader of his team, did not play. Hardly more terrible appraisal than the one of the Lyonnais Källström.

OFFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS :

"Modric, brilliant artist"

1. Modric
2. Schweinsteiger
3. Silva
4. Podolski
5. Sneijder

"Contrarly to Arshvin, the Cruyff of the Balkans managed to have a series of games. Big presence, perfect tehnique, Modric always plays frontwards, makes the good choices and bring some speed to the game of a team that sometimes lacks of it a bit. He's the only Croatian to play most of the time in one touch. Difficult to dissociate the two German players of sides, the buddies "Poldi" and "Schweini", as percussive as efficient as much as the other. Both were the big men of the Mannschaft's run in the competition. With them, David Silva, the will-o-the-wisp on the left side, percussive and combative. Wesley Sneijder, for his part, has embodied the great Dutch first round thanks to his technique, his presence, his art of the set-pieces. We could have considered that the great performance of Deco in the first half against Germany could have been rewarded better. He's still the mastermind of Portugal. The Russian Zyrianov is the accomplice of Arshavin in national team as at Zenit St.-Petersburgh, but he get busted against Spain in the semi-finals.
The Turk Tuncay realized high-leveled performances, physically it's a player who makes his opponent suffer. Rafael van der Vaart has also shown his class and his sense of the game. At last, we have to mention the case Ballack, who became a mental leader, and moral, but who is less influent on the pitch in spite of his important goals".

Disappointments :
"The Italian Perrotta traversed the tournament like a shadow. A bit like the Greek Karagounis, so good in 2004. The Portuguese Simao doesn't play the essential role that could be his. The Austrian Ivanschitz is not the half of the announced star. We did not find back the the Malouda of 2006 and Franck Ribéry - best French - was ill-fated".


STRIKERS :

"Villa, the most consistent"

1. Villa
2. Pavlyuchenko
3. Torres
4. Arshavin
5. Klose

"In Spain, one striker can hide another. Whilst Europe was expecting Torres, she has most of all seen , before the final, David Villa. The scorer of Valencia began spectacularly the tourney. 4 goals in 2 matches : a hat-trick against Russia and the winner against Sweden. Beyond that? An incessant pressing on the opponents' defenses, a real complicity with Torres, some gestures of class, but an unfortunate injury against Russia...
The Russian Pavlyuchenko, him, has scored one goal less than Villa, but he has weighted as much on the defenses. In spite of his big carcass, that makes him looking clumsy, the Spartak player shined with his deflections with the head, his technique with both feet, his dribbles and his shots en force or in finesse. If Torres was discreet during a long time, he was on the other hand decisive in the final, riding roughshod over Lahm and Lehmann in order to scor the only goal of the game. The Russian Arshavin has proven in two games, against Sweden and -most of all - The Netherlands, that he was maybe intrinsically the best of all. But if the new star of St.-Petersburgh had real screen presence in the quarter-finals (1 goal, 1 assist), he has completely missed his semi-final against Spain. Some valued assets like Klose, van Nistelrooy or even Irahimovic, the authors of 2 goals each, were true to their reputation. Special bonus, at last, for the Turks Nihat and Semih Sentürk. The double of the first against the Czech Republic has propulsed his team in the quarter-finals and the goal of the second against Croatia has allowed them to qualify to the semi-finals"

Disppointments :
"We were expecting Toni and Benzema, the top scorers of the German and French leagues. They finished up with 0 goals and a boatload of missed chances, most of all the Italian. Cristiano Ronaldo, who's amongst the favorites in the course for the next Ballon d'Or FF, has disappointed him too. The Portuguese has not played badly, he was just ordinary, which, for a player like him, comes to the same thing."

A few complementary notes taken from the short profiles of the 23 Spaniards : in view of the said "profiles", most of the players of La Roja had their best game against Russia in the Semi-finals. Xavi and Iniesta had a difficult match against Italy in the quarter-finals so the the whole Spanish team was less good on this match. The "marathonian" David Silva, "unheralded" prior to the tournament "has shown why Aragones swear by him since several months : he's the one who energizes the Spanish team's game". Cazorla, "was an intermittent of choice that Aragones launched generally in the second half instead of Xavi or Iniesta in order to brang a bit more of percussion to his team". Puyol "reigned in the Spanish penalty area".