KEY POINTS:
In many ways, Philipp Lahm is the prototype modern footballer. He came through the ranks at Bayern Munich, learnt his trade on loan at Stuttgart, returned with success to Munich and at 24 has already won 46 caps.
He is quick, dynamic and capable of playing on either flank. He is interesting without being colourful, espouses liberal political views and even fronts an anti-speeding campaign. He is a perfect, wipe-clean poster boy of professionalism. He has only one flaw for a defender: he can't defend.
He has not been alone in that at Euro 2008. Engaging as this tournament has been, that should not cloud the fact that much of the defending has been ordinary. Remarkably at this stage, it is Spain, having conceded three goals in five games, who have the best defensive record.
Given how shaky Carles Puyol and Carlos Marchena have looked at times, that is a statistic that suggests how disappointing the rest have been.
It is hard, in fact, to think of a central defender who has really excelled, with the possible exception of Italy's Giorgio Chiellini.
By contrast, there seem to have been dozens of impressive performances from fullbacks - Daniel Pranjic, Razvan Rat, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Yuri Zhirkov, Alexander Anyukov, Sergio Ramos - largely because they have been able to bomb forward and catch the eye with their attacking flair.
The same is true of Lahm. Barring something astonishing in tomorrow's final, his tournament will always be remembered for his surge on to Thomas Hitzlsperger's pass in injury time at the end of Thursday's semi-final against Turkey.
Rustu Recber may have made things easy for him by going to ground too early but Lahm's finish, smashing the ball right-footed into the top-left corner, bespoke a player of the highest quality.
Who remembers now that it was Lahm whom Sabri Sarioglu had beaten four minutes earlier to cross for Semih Senturk to tickle past Jens Lehmann to equalise?
Lahm does, actually.
Refreshingly, in a world in which self-aggrandisement comes as naturally to most players as breathing, he had the decency after being named man of the match to look embarrassed and admit there had probably been worthier recipients.
"It was a huge moment," said Lahm of his winner. "The ball sat up nicely and I hit it well. You just burst with emotions; you can see all the squad, the staff hugging each other and it epitomises team spirit. Words can't describe it. But I also realised I was partly at fault for the equaliser."
He knew his goal was only meaningful, knew his moment of glory was only glorious, because of a mistake he had made. That is typical of him.
He looks like a goofy head boy and that is pretty much how he acts. When last year he became the first national team player to speak in support of gay players, he was awarded a tolerance prize by the Weimar Gay Triangle.
These days, his face is hard to miss in Germany, adorning boards all over the autobahn network.
"Raser sind so cool [People who speed are this cool]," reads the caption, with Lahm holding a thumb and forefinger no more than an inch apart, as though to suggest that driving fast may be a substitute for deficiencies of a personal nature.
And, as though that weren't do-gooding enough, he also runs a foundation to help disadvantaged children in Africa and Europe.
Off the field, Lahm is just about beyond reproach: on it - well, perhaps it is best to say simply that he is a very modern full-back. He excelled on the left at Stuttgart when Thomas Hinkel was the man in possession on the right but on returning to Bayern, he ended up playing on the right to accommodate Marcell Jansen.
He soon impressed, his tireless running earning him the nickname "Wireless-Lahm" (a pun on wireless-LAN, apparently) from Mehmet Scholl.
Jansen's nightmare in the opening two games led to Lahm switching sides, with Arne Friedrich coming in on the right. Lahm was then left looking vulnerable in that third group game against Austria, leading Germany's coach, Joachim Low, to the conclusion that the problem was less the figure at fullback than the lack of defensive work being done by Lukas Podolski on the left flank.
The solution was to switch shapes to a 4-2-3-1, using Hitzlsperger and Simon Rolfes (standing in for Thorsten Frings) as holders. That gave licence to Podolski - and to Bastian Schweinsteiger on the other flank - while offering a measure of cover for Lahm. He did well enough then, but against Turkey in the semifinal, Lahm struggled both against Colin Kazim-Richards and Sabri.
Yet, having been exposed again and again, he still had the strength of character to leave his position, make the forward run and get on the end of Hitzlsperger's pass. In a moment, his struggles in personal duels were rendered insignificant. He is the very model of a modern German footballer.
- INDEPENDENT