The year 2008 will be long remembered in Spain after the eternally underachieving national team finally came good, winning the European Championships on June 29 after Fernando Tones's goal sealed a 1 -0 victory over Germany in the final.
It was their first title in 44 years -- following their European championship success back in 1964 -- and it was fiesta time as the champagne and sangria flowed throughout the country.
"This is a happy day for Spain, we've won this tournament in style and we're very happy. Now we will start expecting to win on this sort of stage," said outgoing coach Luis Aragones.
On the domestic front champions Real Madrid started 2008 seven points clear of Barcelona after Julio Baptista's goal sealed a 1 -0 win over their rivals in 'El Clasico' at Camp Nou days before Christmas.
Under German coach Bemd Schuster Real showed German-like efficiency to cruise to a second successive league title in May and finished a mighty 18 points ahead of Barca with Villarreal sandwiched in between.
Barcelona lost both matches against Real and on May 7 had to suffer the ultimate humiliation performing the guard of honour to salute Real as champions at the Santiago Bernabeu and then lost 4-1.
However, the tables were to turn and by the end of the year new Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola, a former Barcelona captain who won six league titles and the 1992 Champions League, had revitalised the club steering them to the summit with a ten point gap over Sevilla and 12 points over sixth-placed Real.
Barcelona won a heated Clasico on December 13 at Camp Nou with Samuel Eto'o and the irrepressible Lionel Messi scoring in the final seven minutes.
"This guy Messi is a football god," said Brazilian teammate Dani Alves. "If he can continue with this desire and mentality he will go down in history."
It capped a fine first half of the season for Barca who had demolished title rivals Atletico Madrid 6-1, Valencia 4 -0 and Sevilla 3 -0.
In stark contrast last season's hero Schuster could do no right and defeats to Valladolid, Getafe and Sevilla saw Schuster lose his job four days before 'El Clasico' on December 13 with Juande Ramos taking his place.
Schuster's post match comments after the 4-3 defeat to Sevilla are thought to have put the final nail in his coffin with the Real hierarchy unimpressed by his pessimistic attitude.
"As it stands it is impossible to win at the Camp Nou," Schuster said. "They (Barcelona) are playing really well there and it's their year."
The eye-catching performances of Barcelona did not help Schuster's cause either with Pep Guardiola, whose only experience had been managing the reserve team, getting the best out of a team that had underperformed under Frank Rijkaard.
Rijkaard bid farewell in May and was applauded off the pitch in recognition for his two league titles and 2006 Champions League success.
Ronaldinho and Deco followed Rijkaard out the door as Guardiola stamped his authority on the team.
Persuading Eto'o to stay proved significant for Guardiola as the Cameroon forward blasted 15 goals to fire Barcelona top.
Real had endured a nightmare in the transfer market failing to land Ronaldo from Manchester United and then lost Brazilian winger Robinho who engineered a 39.8 million euro move to Manchester City after discovering that Real wanted to use him as collateral in the Ronaldo deal.
"The problem is that (Real Madrid) did not manage to recruit," Robinho said. "(Bernd) Schuster (Real coach) isn't my father, he's my coach. He can't make me do anything."