Victor Valdés should be thoroughly enjoying Euro 2008. Yes, I know he isn't playing but seeing some of the other goalkeeping performance reinforces my belief that he is one of the best. Although he makes the odd mistake there are not very many of them and he is generally very consistent. Even the best keepers can make a complete balls-up and today it was the turn of Petr Cech. In a fantastic finish Cech's blunder played a big part in allowing Turkey to come back from 2-0 down to clinch a place in the quarter final.

I have to admit that despite there being a tiny bit more Barça interest in the Portugal-Switzerland game I opted for the emotion of watching The Czech Republic against Turkey. I'm glad I did as Portugal rested their stars and Deco was on the bench throughout. Moutinho did come on in the...

A dramatic injury time winner from David Villa gave Spain a 2-1 victory over Sweden which puts them in a dominant position at the top of Group D. There was not a lot to say about the Barça trio as Puyol, Iniesta and Xavi were all substituted long before the end.  

Spain began strongly and it looked like there might be a repeat of their handsome victory over Russia when Fernando Torres turned in David Silva's cross after 15 minutes. Torres was vigorously taken from behind by the entire team in celebration. Perhaps the celebration took something out of the players as Sweden came back strongly with Larsson and Ibrahimovic causing the Spanish defence problems. Things looked worse for Spain when Carles Puyol had top come off injured after just twenty-three minutes and soon after Sweden equalised...

 Another exhilarating display from the Dutch to beat France 4-1 has left the group of death with the exciting prospect of seeing World Cup finalists Italy and France in a sudden death game that will leave at least one of them out of the competition on Tuesday. Thierry Henry came back to the French team and managed to give them brief hope with a second half goal but he also missed two good chances and will not be happy with his performance.

Holland took the lead through Kuyt in the 9th minute and France were always chasing the game. In the second half Henry had a good penalty appeal turned down and then he missed a one on one in the 53rd minute that would have put France back in the game. Five minutes later Robben crossed for Van Persie to score and then when Henry flicked in Sagnol's cross th...

As you should all know there are no Barça players involved in Group B. Today I decided to keep a close eye on German striker Mario Gomez since some of the local press had said Barça might be interested in him after his game against Poland. In today's game between Germany and Croatia I'm afraid he did very little and was substituted in the 65th minute by Schweinsteiger.

It's interesting how the press react to a good performance. Since David Villa's hat-trick for Spain there have been plenty of stories of Barça's supposed interest. I think Villa is a fantastic goalscorer but I'm not sure if he is right for Barça, I feel he is probably more suited to a team that plays on the counterattack.

Anyway perhaps tomorrow we will be linked to Ivica Olic who looked good today and scored Croatia...

He may not be a Barça player for very much longer but tonight Deco showed his class as Portugal beat The Czech Republic 3-1 to book a place in the quarter finals. Deco scrambled in Portugal's first in the 8th minute after Ronaldo had played a neat one-two with Nuno Gomes. He then went on to play a part in the two other Portuguese goals.

Amusingly after Deco's goal ITV commentator Clive Tyldesley said "There wasn't a player lying behind the goal-line so the goal stands." This was the commentator who got it wrong for Van Nistlerooy's goal on Monday. What is strange is how instead of apologizing for his mistake he tries to ridicule the offside ruling instead. His sidekick David Pleat chipped in ten minutes later by mentioning the "farce of the Dutch goal." What is it with TV pundits and commentator...

Day four began with a magnificent display from Spain who thoroughly outplayed Russia to win 4-1. There were good performances from Xavi, Puyol and Iniesta but the star of the game was David Villa who scored a hat-trick. Spain began with a 4-4-2 formation with Villa and Fernando Torres up front, I have to admit I was critical of the decision as Spain have looked better in recent months playing with a five-man midfield. However, the two of them combined well and Torres set up Villa for the first goal after a fine ball from Capdevila.

Just before half time Villa got his second after a perfectly timed through pass from Iniesta and Russia were out of it by half time. In the second half Fabregas came on for Torres and Spain switched to 4-5-1, this was followed by a superb display of possession footba...

One big question on my mind at the end of day three: why did we sell Giovanni? No, not the tricky Mexican with the overgrown ego, I'm talking about our ex-left back Giovanni Van Bronckhorst who was superb tonight in Holland's 3-0 win over Italy. As if to make it even clearer today's first match saw a poor performance from Eric Abidal for a lacklustre France who could only manage a 0-0 draw with Romania.

France started with Lilian Thuram and Abidal in the back four but there was no place for Thierry Henry who was not fit in time, so Nicholas Anelka partnered Benzema up front. With the support on the wings of Ribery and Malouda you might have expected a few goals from France but they couldn't break through a well-organised and disciplined Romanian defence. Malouda was particularly disappointing and I have...

I know the picture is not from Euro 2008 but today there were no Barça players, or even ex-Barça players on show. I was going to put a picture of a flying cat but Koeman's goal at Wembley is probably more to the taste of most readers. In the first game today between Croatia and hosts Austria there was a chance to see what we missed in Cruyff lookalike Luka Modric.  He did score the only goal of the game for Croatia with a third minute penalty, and he did show flashes of a lot of class, however, I don't think he is the finished product yet as he also gave the ball away more than once in his own half. Croatia played well for the first half an hour but faded as the game went on. I thought Austria were unlucky not to get a late equalizer. Incidentally, Modric will be teaming up with Giovani dos Santos...

Fcbnews will try to bring you a brief daily round up of the games at Euro 2008 with a special bias for the Barça players. However, don't expect me to watch every single game of the tournament as I find international games can often be a wee bit boring. There was no Barça involvement in the opening game between Switzerland and Czech Republic and after just 30 minutes I found I was struggling to keep my eyes open. Although the Swiss had the better chances the Czechs won the game with a second half goal from substitute Vaclav Sverkos.

The second game between Portugal and Turkey promised to be a bit more interesting as Deco was playing for Portugal and there was also a chance to see ex-blaugrana Simao Sabrosa who I have always had a soft spot for, as well as possible transfer target Moutinho.

If we discount Gianluca Zambrotta who played in Italy's 3-1 win over Belgium on Friday, there were five Barça players involved in friendly internationals this weekend in preparation for Euro 2008. Puyol, Xavi and Iniesta all played in Spain's 2-1 victory over Peru, Xavi set up Spain's first goal with an excellent through ball to David Villa. Deco played the first 45 minutes of Portugal's 2-0 win over Georgia, while Thierry Henry also played the first half only of France's disappointing 0-0 draw with Paraguay. Thuram and Abidal are also in France's Euro 2008 squad but the played no part in yesterday's game.