Fabulous Fabregas sets up a capital clash

Not that we would dream of being so parochial as to suggest the greatest festival of European football ever will come down to a 90-minute London derby, but when Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas and Chelsea's Michael Ballack pit wits here on Sunday, the one who prevails in their duel could end up as a Euro 2008 champion.

It was wonderful that an event crammed with surprises should offer one more last night with the Fabregas show. Seeing Cesc's delightful half-hour 'super sub' cameos throughout the event has been to feel almost cheated because it's left us wanting more. But in this semi-final he had a whole hour to paint a proper masterpiece, with only Guus Hiddink's befuddled Russians unable to appreciate its beauty.

And while you could only feel sympathy for David Villa, who lit up the event only to be denied a place in the final because of his thigh injury, it seems only right that a man who's not just some take-him-or-leave-him bench luxury but who has a claim on being the best midfielder in European football will surely now be granted his chance of demonstrating over 90 minutes just why.

Even better, Germany's captain has that same opportunity. Ballack, according to Arsene Wenger, has been the man of the tournament but watching from a French TV commentary booth last night, he was left cooing instead about the mastery of his own Arsenal lad, whose performance, capped by sublime assists for two of the three Spanish goals, must have reminded him of that night three months ago in the San Siro when Cesc had AC Milan on toast.

And as it dawned on Fabregas that Villa's misfortune would be his good luck, he savoured the thought of now going head-to-head with Ballack.

"He's been doing a massive job, one of the best players of the tournament," he said. "He's been fantastic, playing a bit more forward here than normal."

Which, ironically, is where we also found Fabregas last night. Villa's injury after 35 minutes, which meant the end of the championship's most fruitful strike partnership with Fernando Torres, prompted coach Luis Aragones to revert to the 4-1-4-1 system he preferred in qualifying, with Fabregas given licence to support the lone striker. Not exclusively, though.

The great thing about the five-man Spanish midfield is its wonderful flexibility and interchangeability, with such slick, technically accomplished passers like Xavi, David Silva and Andres Iniesta all switching positions and taking turns in attacking and defensive duties. Russia couldn't cope with this bewitching, thoroughly modern vision of football totality.

"We could handle Torres and Villa but with an extra midfielder came more mobility, all done at such quick pace. Then it's just a matter of time with their class," said Hiddink. He wasn't wrong.

After the break, Spain's reign in the rain was absolute, Iniesta setting up Xavi for the first before Fabregas superbly played in Torres's replacement, Daniel Guiza, and then Silva.

The Arsenal man was so splendid that the Barcelona bigwigs, here to look at their supposed must-have No10 in the red shirt, Andriy Arshavin, just ended up reflecting miserably again on how the hell they'd lost that other No10 in the yellow when he was just 16. Poor old Arshavin; it looked as if the pressure of being Europe's most wanted froze him.

Like Ballack, Fabregas has had to live with accusations that he hasn't delivered for his country in the way he has at club level and, like the Chelsea man, he is now offering the definitive retort.

Yet Fabregas, remember, is 10 years younger at 21. Still, Aragones noted, he was playing out there with the experience of a 27- or 28-year-old and with all the quality of "a great player".

It's all turning into a personal triumph for Aragones here, with the Spanish press, so often his most merciless critics, now writing love letters to his brilliant coaching nous.

His side have been a cut above anything in the tournament - even Italy's familiar suffocation job was deservedly punished in the shoot-out - but he's too canny and his country too scarred by previous failures to make rash predictions about a 44-year wait for a major trophy, since their 1964 European Championship win in Madrid, being about to end. Not with Germany as the final obstacle.

Spain thinks as England always has. You could glean that from Aragones's reference last night to the favourite line of his old chum at Barcelona, Gary Lineker, about "football being a game of 90 minutes and at the end the Germans always win". Already last night, Xavi was labelling Joachim Low's men as the favourites "because for many years we haven't won anything while they're always there fighting for titles".

There's a danger here. Spain can't now afford to talk themselves into an inferiority complex. Like hell are Germany favourites. They've gone along in starbursts and porridge and have a now-dodgy keeper - sorry, Jens - while Spain have played the best football, boast the best goalie in the competition, a midfield of all the talents and a dazzling striker. Their time has come. As long as they believe it.

So in a fitting heavyweight climax to a wonderful tournament, what will prevail? Germany's athleticism, power and unimpeachable self-belief or Spain's superior skill, quality and artistry, hung on an uncertain fragility of temperament.

In pure footballing terms, the wish has to be that Fabregas consigns Ballack to his by now traditional runners-up spot.