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On Sunday night we can savour the Euro 2012 Final, with Inspector Clouseau up against Carry On star Kenneth Connor.

Or, more precisely, it’s Spain’s all-conquering boss Vicente del Bosque against Cesare Prandelli, the man who has inspired a remarkable renaissance in Italian football.

Italy have done extraordinarily well to reach this stage of the tournament, but with Andrea Pirlo – the Keith ­Richards of international midfielders – calling the tune, the Azzurri have every chance of making it to No.1.

Sunday night’s encounter will resemble another sport which will be on show at this summer’s London Olympics – fencing. There will be parries and passes ­before the execution of the ­winning thrust.

Unfortunately, in football terms, the English are still guilty of using broadswords and battle axes and remain firmly in the Dark Ages when it comes to subtlety and finesse.

English football is one-dimensional and there is a blind reluctance to accept that we simply have no world-class players – just average workhorses who have been consistently over-hyped in the Premier League, which is totally dominated by excellent foreigners and not by home-grown talent.

How England can be so high in the FIFA rankings at six is beyond me, although Roy Hodgson did his very best with the resources he had. The ratings get updated this week but at the moment beaten Portugal lie 10th and Italy are 12th.

It really hurts me to see the usual countries fighting it out in the semi-finals, with our plane having already touched down back in England.

Last Sunday’s defeat against Italy only underlined the paucity of technical ability in our game and a complete and radical overhaul of the youth system has to be undertaken.

Having the new FA set-up at Burton is all well and good, but it’s like putting the rejects from the X-Factor on the stage at Stratford-upon-Avon. Spain are going for their third major title tonight as the reigning world and European champions.

(Image: Martin Rose)

They’ve penalised themselves in ­Poland and the Ukraine by playing with no strikers. It’s as though the holders have decided to give everyone else a chance, as competitive matches have been too easy for them recently.

With only two defenders and ­virtually eight midfielders, Del Bosque’s ­revolutionary tactics have made it tougher for his team to progress. But Spain have arrived at tonight’s final without really turning on the style that has so mesmerised football over the past four years.

Perhaps Spain have taken passing the ball to the very limit of our patience, because now the best team in the world creates only a fraction of the clear-cut chances they used to produce.

Other countries seem to be better ­organised and are happier to press higher up the pitch, thereby not ­allowing Gerard Pique and Sergio Ramos to start attacks direct from Iker Casillas, their goalkeeper.

In the semi, Portugal’s attackers were active in pushing on to the Spain defenders. Portugal’s game plan ­almost worked but for the penalty shoot-out.

For me, these Euros have been about good passing and receiving the ball under extreme pressure. The top ­countries appear to have no fear of giving a pass to someone ­surrounded by a host of opponents.

(Image: Laurence Griffiths)

Italy’s Pirlo, Riccardo Montolivo, ­Daniele De Rossi and Claudio Marchisio are all comfortable in ­possession but are also strong and clever in hunting back the ball when it is lost.

Spain’s central midfield will ­provide a tougher contest for Pirlo’s pals but Mario Balotelli gives the Italian ­midfield a great out ball behind the Spain back four. Spain have no such direct target and do allow teams to ­regroup quickly when breached.

I have given Maddio Balotelli some fierce criticism in this column in the past, but his performance and quality in the semi-final victory over Germany were simply breathtaking.

Should super Mario score the first goal tonight, then I can see an Italian victory as no-one in the world defends a one-goal lead as well as the men in Blue.

Spain have not beaten Italy in 90 minutes of competitive football since 1920, but did manage to defeat their bogey team on penalties four years ago.

It is only fitting the two best passing sides in the tournament meet in the final as football should be entertaining and exciting, not resilient and robust.

Euro 2012 has shown us football is fun – although I would prefer an English summariser to Mark Lawrenson and Andy Townsend, who both played for the ­Republic of Ireland.

I turned the TV sound down and put on Radio 5 Live’s commentary.

Tonight I’ll take Italy to win it – so Carry On Prandelli!