30/06/2008 11:18 AM
Fernando Torres was in dreamland after a stunning final performance by the Liverpool striker saw Spain claim the European Championships crown.
The 24-year-old tormented Germany and scored the only goal in Spain's 1-0 triumph in the Ernst-Happel Stadium in Vienna.
Torres, voted man of the match by UEFA, said: "It has been a fantastic season for me - it was fantastic with Liverpool and now a fantastic end of the season for the national team."
"This is the first big trophy for me and I hope not the last."
"We are privileged to be in the national team and we have had a chance to live through a beautiful tournament."
"We are proud to see so many people enjoying it, and now we have the peace of mind that we have achieved what we set out to do."
"This is good not just for Spain but for football, because the best team won and that is not always the case."
Spain has often been viewed in the past as having suffered from divisions within the team, and Torres paid tribute to the togetherness of this squad which won the country's first major tournament since 1964.
Torres added: "I am happy because my job is to score goals and I have done my job tonight but this was a victory for the unity of the group - it doesn't often happen that a group gets along so well."
"It is a dream come true - this was a great victory for the whole team and for the whole of Spain."
"But we still have to be ambitious as we still have the World Cup to come."
Spain coach Luis Aragones will leave on a high after this victory - he is expected to be named as manager of Turkish side Fenerbahce - and Torres played tribute to his role.
The striker said: "He's the most important thing in our success because he has a lot of confidence in this group and we are very happy for him in his last game in the national team."
Aragones claimed Torres, who scored 33 goals for Liverpool last season, should now be regarded as a contender to be named world player of the year.
"Fernando is a great player for Liverpool and for our team and he can go anywhere because he has really extraordinary speed and he knows how to dribble," he said.
"We always tell him he's a player who is so young that he can learn to do everything and there is no doubt he can be one of the best players in the world."
The victory was particularly sweet for Aragones who lost his place in the Spain side just before its last triumph in 1964, and he was delighted by the style in which his players won the tournament.
"We have put together a group that passes very well and it's very difficult to stop them - we have won this tournament in a brilliant way," Aragones said.
"Spain have been a model for playing football the right way."
"At the beginning I said if we manage this group well we will be champions. They thought I was just trying to give them courage but they are so good and I just hope Spain will now go on and win more trophies."