Neil

That or he beats the shit out of one of his Man City team mates. Don't think you can get the odds on that.

Balotelli scoring does have that romanticism element; of the apparently mental bloke who gets castigated for being a dick actually scoring the goal that puts England out.

Sneaky. I've had it as public all this time under the assumption others would be doing the same. Apparently though everyone's too scared to do that so fuck it, it's war.

Would be very, very amused if Parker outshines Pirlo.

Come on England you fuckers.

I'm not sure what other recognition you want him to get? He's astonishingly good, but Messi and R9 both outshine him.

Hopefully Andy Townsend is taken hostage in his Tactics Truck.

This is the bottom line. Spain yet again win against a team who had near zero intention of attacking. Did well to score twice.

Also, I've never really seen the fuss over Ribery. It's not just tonight, he so often just doesn't do much in a match and is not, for me, one of the best attacking players in Europe like he's seemingly mooted to be.

One of the worst tournament performances I've ever seen. Completely and utterly spineless. Spain probably couldn't believe their luck at how easy that was.

My thoughts too. I see a list of players but I see no formations, I see no arrows going everywhere, I SEE NOTHING

This is the smart bet.

GET INVOLVED Mike Parker on Twitter: "Is it a wind up that Malouda, Cabaye and Koscielny are starting for France? Do they want to win? Spain must be over the moon!"

Gonna be a massive onus on Benzema and Ribery to sort shit out upfront. Which is odd, because Benzema has been dropping incredibly deep.

Hopefully the guilty party will at least get booked.

In terms of not playing, I wonder where "axed" stands in relation to getting "hauled off".

For those who fancy Spain and England, both to win (90 mins) is 9/2 on PP's latest offer.

Hope this lives up to the quality of players on show. Just think France will be defensive and Spain will find it hard to break them down. Early Spain goal would be good, I guess.

Well, yes, but having 15 selections means you've got a good chance at least 1 will fuck up.

Would lean towards under 2.5 tonight as opposed to over. Lots of talented players on show but have a feeling there won't be loads of good chances. Can easily see ET.

I will, I will, I will not be moved (andson pls)

Podolski, Muller and Gomez all "rested".

Just a rumour as far as I can see.

Absolute madness to not play Gomez.

Phil McNulty‏@philmcnulty Interesting talk from Swedish journalists at England training who suggest Olof Mellberg may return to the Premier League at Everton.