Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Euro 2012 final between Spain and Italy. The game takes place in Kiev's Olimpiyskiy Stadium and tonight we could see Spain become the greatest team in the history of international football.

A lovely turn of pace from Iniesta as he saunters through the Italy midfield to find Fabregas, who in turn plays the ball square to Xavi. His shot is blocked, as is Iniesta's 10 seconds later.

The Spain fans are pulling out the 'oles' already. That kind of hubris can only be bad.

It's a corner to Spain though and Ramos meets the ball 10 yards from goal with a powerful header that flies over. That's Ramos with Spain's two best chances so far.

Italy target Spain over the top again and attempt to pick out Cassano, but Spain collect themselves and break, with Alba pulling a fine cross back into the box. There's no striker to convert though and Chiellini intervenes before Silva can connect at the far post.

De Rossi thumps into Xavi with a pretty poor challenge and Spain have a free kick 30 yards from goal. Ramos stands over the ball and rifles one in but the ball keeps on rising and soars over the bar.

Ramos climbs above Balotelli to head away from a long ball over the top from the Italians and the Italy striker appears to react badly. If he is losing his temper already that will be a problem for the Azzurri.

David Silva takes possession for the first time and tries to thread a pass through for Fabregas. However, Claudio Marchisio is tracking the run and intercepts before clearing for Italy.

It's an enterprising start from Italy, who look to be following the Portugal method of taking the game to Spain from the start. However, Chiellini and Cassano them bump into each other to lose possession.

And now Pirlo materialises on the edge of the box to wildly swing at a loose ball and see his shot skew well wide. Cassano had caused problems when attempting to dive into the box.

Pirlo's first act is to try and find Abate with a long diagonal pass but Jordi Alba is across to get his head in the way. Still, Pirlo found a nice pocket of space there.

KICK OFF!

Handshakes all round and former Real Madrid forward Antonio Cassano gets a friendly greeting from former team-mates. Balotelli also enjoying pressing the flesh. Right then, down to business...

It's 1-0 to Italy following the national anthems. Spain of course don't even bother with any words, while Daniele De Rossi, Ignazio Abate and pals went for it, with Buffon putting on a virtuoso display, eyes closed and choking back the tears. Inspiring stuff.

Balotelli the last man to emerge from the tunnel. Lots of attention on him tonight of course. The trophy is on display as both sets of players diverge past it and onto their marks where they will respect the national anthems.

The two teams are in the tunnel to be led out, unusually, by two goalkeepers in Gianluigi Buffon and Iker Casillas. Andrea Pirlo strokes his hair knowingly as Xavi looks excited. Sergio Ramos handsome as hell with his new short hair.

My name is Tom Adams by the way and, if that's your kind of thing, you can follow me on Twitter right now.

So which of tonight's teams has been the most impressive at Euro 2012 so far? I crunched the numbers and rated all the players out of 10, with one narrow winner.

We are about to be 'treated' to a closing ceremony in Kiev. If it is anything like the opening ceremonies that have greeted EVERY SINGLE GAME so far, it will be completely missable.

Let me throw some stats your way: Spain haven’t conceded a single goal in their last 900 minutes of action in major tournament knockout games, a streak which started in the quarter finals of Euro 2008. Spain have won 75% of their finals at major tournaments (three out of four), the best ratio for European sides who have played more than one final alongside France. Italy have reached their ninth final at major tournaments (three at European Championships, six at the World Cup). They’ve won 63%.

Meanwhile, Prandelli is confident that his team can match Italy's midfield. "Our first aim will be to shut down space and win the ball," he said. "Where we try to win the ball will depend on us and also how good Spain are. For us, it is important to remain focused on our target - close the space in the central midfield. Our central midfield has a lot of quality, we can cover a lot of ground and press in that area and we have a great player who can raise the level of the game - Pirlo."

As Spain look to become the first ever team to win three consecutive major tournaments, Vicente del Bosque has been urging his side to avoid looking to the past. "We cannot look back," he said at Saturday's pre-match press conference. "We can't think that history influences anything. Italy have won the World Cup four times, we won it two years ago. Of course there is some history, but now me must look at the present. I think we've had similar tournaments."