David Villa feels that his injury time winner has made him a prouder Spaniard then what his hat-trick did.

The 26 year old Valencia striker said, "To tell you the truth I am prouder of this goal than the three I got the other day. Today, the adrenalin was exploding. I'm so happy to score, even if I get just one I'm very happy." Despite being a fine performer throughout the game, his most important contribution was latching on to the injury time through ball and expertly finding the back of the net.

"I won't be able to forget this day, nor any of the last few days, I always dreamed about it, but we have to be realistic, it's tough playing two games like this. The main thing is that the team has won both games; the three points, and the fact that Spain are in the next phase please me most of all. We found it tough but deserved to win even if was in the last minute."

Villa’s fine performance led to him picking up the man of the match award, easily beating off competition from Fernando Torres and surprisingly, Olof Mellberg.

"He scored a fantastic goal at the end of the game when it was not an easy time to score. He played really well together with [Fernando] Torres – they are both outstanding players and he is always dangerous. He fought for the team and battled to find a way through.” said a member of UEFA’s panel.

Spain have been in familiar situations before, most notably World Cup 2006, where they lost to France in the knockout round. But at the moment, the future looks rosy for Spain at Euro 2008.