Right, okay. Before we get to the rah-rah you expect (Wow, we've gone through, can't believe it!) and to the chit-chat you probably think I'm trying to avoid (was Michael Ballack's goal legal?), let me say something else first:

This is a gripping and amazing tournament and the first quarter-final was true to the general trend, as it was a much better game than we had any right to hope for.

In the whole history of the European Championships, which goes back almost half a century ...

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