Featured Articles / Ben Lyttleton / 21 June 2008 / Leave a comment

Six teams remain in the hunt for the biggest prize in European football and Ben Lyttleton identifies the key players who could bring that trophy home

As Euro 2008 nears its final week, the pressure increases on the players and the margins between success and failure become ever narrower. Many experts thought the most influential player of the tournament would be Cristiano Ronaldo but, though he showed flashes of form, his Portugal side were undone in the quarter-finals by Germany.

The teams left in the competition have all shown signs of the teamwork and spirit that took Greece to the title in Euro 2004, they differ from Otto Rehhagel¹s side in one key feature: that they have individuals that can produce something different, magical, to turn a game and inspire their team How those individuals perform in the next seven days could determine the destination of the Henri Delaunay trophy.

The performance of Michael Ballack in Germany's last two games is a case in point: the skipper was [8.0] to open the scoring against Austria and his headed winner against Portugal proved the winner in a 3-2 thriller that was priced at [85.0]. Ballack has been here before: he inspired Germany to the World Cup final in 2002 before suspension ruled him out of the final, and he has been in wonderful form for Chelsea in the last six months.

Joegi Loew moved Ballack from central midfield to just behind Miroslav Klose against Portugal and he out-played Ronaldo to head Germany into the semi-finals. More goals could be on the agenda against Turkey and he is [5.5] to finish Germany's top-scorer and a tempting [34.0] to finish the tournament as top-scorer.

His side take on the never-say-die Turks in Wednesday's first semi-final, of course. Fatih Terim's side have been decimated by injuries and suspensions, and key players like Tuncay Sanli and Arda Turan will miss out. Their star man, for me, was the player that came off the bench to score their first goal of the tournament, which spurred them to victory against Switzerland. Semih Senturk was the Turkish league's top scorer last season and his last-minute strike against Croatia ­ and coolly-taken penalty in the shoot-out­ proved his value to the team. Turkey have come in from [32.0] to [14.0] as outright winners, and Semih is [120.0] to finish top-scorer.

Holland's most influential player could yet overhaul Ronaldo in the race to win the prestigious Ballon D'Or award: two-footed midfielder Wesley Sneijder helped Real Madrid win la Liga and has scored two of the best goals of Euro 2008, against Italy and France. His vision and technique have summed up Holland¹s exciting style of play and at [12.0] in the first goalscorer market against Russia, he is worth backing.

Russia's talisman missed their first two games but more than made up for it when he returned for the 2-0 win over Sweden. Andrei Arshavin is one of the most exciting players in the tournament, and is one of those players who improves the level of his team-mates. With him in the side, Russia's outright winner price of [18.0] appears far too high, while he is [5.1] to finish Russia¹s top-scorer, a surprising price given that Arshavin, surely the only player at the tournament who holds a diploma in fashion design, is only one goal behind Roman Pavluychenko (who has missed almost as many chances as Luca Toni).

Not all teams have forwards as their key players. Italy would be back home were it not for Gigi Buffon's fantastic penalty save from Adrian Mutu in their second group match. The Italian's injured captain Fabio Cannavaro said that this side is different to the 2006 World Cup-winning team because there are no stars in it, though he added, "with the exception of Gigi, as he is different-class". Buffon followed up that spot-kick save with a flying leap to defy Karim Benzema in the group decider against France. The potency of Spain's strikers is the only reason Italy's clean sheet price in their quarter-final is [3.15], but if anyone can stop David Villa and Fernando Torres, it is the in-form Italian.

Villa is the main reason that Spain believes they can win a tournament for the first time since 1964 (they are priced at [5.9]). Villa is a short [1.69] to end top-scorer: more than his hat-trick against a generous Russia, it was his last-minute winner against Sweden that impressed me; he may have been the most consistent scorer in Spain for the last four seasons, but finally he is the killer up-front that his national team has lacked. He is [2.64] to score against Italy, and his duel against Buffon could shape that game.

As Ballack and Semih have already proved in the knock-out rounds, big players decide big games and now is the time for the others to prove it.

Tags: Andrei Arshavin, David Villa, Germany, Gigi Buffon, Holland, Italy, Michael Ballack, Russia, Semih Senturk, Spain, Turkey, Wesley Sneijder