Xavi Hernandez is best player of Euro 2008

1 July 2008

VIENNA – Midfielder Xavi Hernandez from freshly crowned champions Spain was on Monday named best player of the Euro 2008 tournament.

Xavi was chosen by nine experts who had followed the three-week tournament as a technical study group of the ruling body UEFA.

"We chose him because we think he epitomises the Spanish style of play. He was extremely influential in the whole possession, passing, penetrating kind of game that Spain played," UEFA technical director Andy Roxburgh said.

Xavi, 28, played in five of Spain’s six matches highlighted by Sunday’s 1-0 triumph over Germany in the Vienna final. The 63-times capped Xavi plays club football for Barcelona.

Xavi was naturally also among the nine Spanish players nominated into the 23-strong all-star team of the 7-29 June event in Austria and Switzerland.

Euro 2008 all-star team

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Iker Casillas (Spain), Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands).

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

Midfielders: Hamit Altintop (Turkey), Luka Modric (Croatia), Marcos Senna (Spain), Xavi Hernandez (Spain), Konstantin Zyryanov (Russia), Michael Ballack (Germany), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Lukas Podolski (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands).

Forwards: Andrei Arshavin (Russia), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Russia), Fernando Torres (Spain), David Villa (Spain).

[dpa / Expatica]