ANDRÉS INIESTA'S ARTISTRY

Perhaps because sport has somehow got so damn big, most people alive to drink coffee this morning know that Spain won the World Cup in South Africa last night. In the 116th minute of the final, against the Netherlands, Andrés Iniesta scored the winning goal. The diminutive Iniesta has since been called many things, including "the quiet prince of Spanish football", "the Barcelona wizard" and "the shy playmaker". He also has the distinction, rare among footballers, of having been picked out as one to watch in Intelligent Life magazine. Just before the Real Madrid v Barcelona match in April, our contributor Rob Smyth shellacked the reticent hero with praise, heralding him as "an attacking midfielder with forensic vision, geometric passing, devastating pace, serene certainty in possession, and the ability to get even better in big games." He showed that last night, sidestepping many murderous Dutch tackles to win the Man of the Match award as well as coolly delivering the coup de grace.

Yet even our powers of prediction have been soundly trumped by those of a certain psychic cephalopod. Surely mindful of Iniesta's wizardly ways, Paul, the octopus resident of Sea Life Oberhausen (who is starting to look a bit fame-fatigued, me thinks), also foresaw Spain's World Cup triumph. His tentacles were all over it.

Picture credit: Maxwell GS (via Flickr)