“No side containing Carles Puyol could be accused of disdain for passion or physicality. Beneath those cherub’s curls is the face of a man you might not want to encounter in a darkened side street off the Rambla del Raval. He may not wear the national team’s armband, but he has behaved throughout this tournament exactly as he does when captaining Barcelona, and the marvellous headed goal that eliminated Germany in the semi-final – a technical achievement on a par with any of David Villa’s goals – was perhaps the key moment of the entire campaign.”

Richard Williams, in an article published in The Guardian (UK) about the World Cup champions, La Roja.