No football bailout

The positive news flowing from eurozone leaders at the European Union summit in Brussels is a shot in the arm for the spiralling borrowing costs of Italy and Spain given their faltering economies. The two, however, did not believe in handing out bailouts on the soccer field as they knocked out the rest of Europe, including big donor Germany, on their march to Sunday’s Euro 2012 final. Italian PM Mario Monti made no bones about it, quite impolitely reminding his gallant rescuer, Chancellor Angela Merkel, that it was a “double satisfaction for Italy”. Threats of a eurozone collapse have receded, bringing some warmth to stockmarkets around the world, including India.

Spanish banks breathed easier after the European Central Bank’s 100 billion euro bailout. The European Union bosses also gave a pledge they would begin purchasing Italian bonds.

On the field, Italian striker Mario Balotelli demonstrated the power and glamour of surging forwards with two great goals against Germany, reaffirming the historic domination of Le Azzurri flair over Teutonic methods in both World Cups and European championships. The mesmeric movement behind the two goals may have helped further to bottle up any German counterattack.

The Spaniards seemed far more uncertain getting to the finale with their coach benching their strikers against Portugal, and the team managed to advance only through a nerve-wracking penalty shootout rather than field goals. May be that is a reflection of the Spanish economy being under greater threat than even that of Italy at the moment.