There have been one or two hairy moments for both teams on the way to the final, yet Spain and Germany now find themselves one game away from glory. Despite Joachim Low's men being the 4/1 favourites before Euro 2008 began, they are the firm outsiders on Sunday, with Paddy Power going a massive 5/2 that they win in ninety minutes.
As the cliche goes, you can 'never write off the Germans', although such prices as the above suggests the bookies are bordering on doing exactly that. It's little wonder that Spain are the 11/8 favourites for this contest (VC Bet) after their second half demolition of Russia on Thursday night. Senna and Fabregas were outstanding during their 3-0 win and it's a 28/1 (Ladbrokes) shot that they win by this scoreline again.
However, the layers are expecting the game to be a lot more low-scoring, with Under 2.5 Goals a best price 4/6 (Stan James). It's likely that Germany will set up relatively defensively for this match, potentially imitating Italy's strategy in their quarter-final with Spain, which ended in a goalless draw. Such an outcome is a 7/1 chance (Boylesports), while you can get no better than 11/5 (totesport) that the match is level by the final whistle.
Personally, I feel that Spain can win this game in normal time, especially when you consider that Germany have conceded two goals in their last two matches, including Wednesday's semi-final against an understrength Turkey. Luis Aragones' men look much stronger defensively - it's been around 250 minutes since they last conceded a goal and the 13/5 (Paddy Power) about them 'winning to nil' makes a great deal of appeal. A 1-0 win in the Spaniards favour is 6/1 (Blue Square) and bet365 offer 9/1 that it finishes 2-0.
Sadly, tournament top goalscorer David Villa misses the final, although it gives Fabregas the opportunity to play in an attacking role. The Arsenal midfielder is 10/1 (bet365) to open the scoring, while Fernando Torres (11/2 Blue Square) will trouble the opposition defence with his pace. For the Germans, Miroslav Klose has found the net in the past two matches and is 7/1 (William Hill) to be the first name on the scoresheet, while Lukas Podolski (8/1 Boylesports) already has three goals to his name in this tournament. Chelsea's Michael Ballack is also sure to be popular at 10/1 (Paddy Power).