Olof Mellberg putting his money on Villa

Olof Mellberg last night claimed Fernando Torres and David Villa can fire Spain to Euro 2008 glory.

Ex-Aston Villa defender Mellberg was left devastated after Torres and Villa both struck in Spain's 2-1 victory to seal a quarter-final spot.

Swede Mellberg, who joined Juventus this summer on a free transfer, believes the Spanish double act have got enough firepower to win the European Championship.

Mellberg said: "Maybe Torres and Villa can win the tournament for Spain.

"But there are other teams as well. Holland are doing really well up front and hopefully we can get through and get our strikers going as well.

"Zlatan Ibrahimovic has scored a couple for us and Henrik Larsson is doing well and working hard.

"But Torres and Villa showed against us that Spain can be under pressure but get a break away and have the strikers to do the job. That's all about confidence.

"They didn't do much at all against us until that last second, but when you've scored a few goals, as Villa has already, you know that when you get the chance you can score."

Valencia striker Villa - a £25million target for Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona - has already scored four goals and is red-hot favourite to win the Golden Boot in Euro 2008.

Liverpool striker Torres was also on target against Sweden before Villa's injury-time winner broke Sweden's resolve.

It left ex-Manchester United and Celtic forward Larsson singing Villa and Torres's praises as potentially the best partnership at Euro 2008.

But he insisted his own co-striker Ibrahimovic - who struck against Spain - is also a world class talent.

Veteran Larsson said: "Spain have two good strikers and there's even some for Sweden and other teams as well. It's very good for the spectators.

"Zlatan is one of the best players in the tournament. He is very important for us, a great striker."