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Time was, the same phrase would be trotted out after every Spanish exit from the World Cup or the European Championship.

It was a phrase that became cliché and talked of bad luck and unforeseen circumstances, of fatalism and the inevitability of dark destinies and hidden hands. "We played like never before," it ran, "but we lost like we always do."
 
That time, though, has past. Spain's victory at Euro 2008 has changed everything, reinforcing a footballing style that had been conspicuous by its absence and inducing a sense of collective confidence - even if that confidence has now been shaken by defeat against Switzerland, even if some have blamed that confidence for defeat. It even changed the reaction to defeat, as the press today shows. It even changed the clichés.
 
And so it is that the cover of AS the morning after the day before, the Madrid-based sports newspaper, declares: "We played like always - and we lost like never."
 
'Never' might be an exaggeration but it was almost right. After one defeat in 49 encounters, Spain was suddenly beaten in its first World Cup game. Some 20,000 Spain fans - or Marquistas, as the newspaper Marca put it, as its weird cult-like campaign with editor-turned-prophet-turned-all-knowing-leader became even odder - gathered in front of a giant screen outside the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid to watch the match and could not believe their eyes.
 
Nor could anyone else. It was, declared the cover of the Barcelona-based sports daily El Mundo Deportivo, an "Incredible Defeat"; Spain, added Sport, "had been brought crashing down to earth."

"We were going to stick it to those fools," wrote the invariably bitter José Vicente Hernáez, who presumably lives next to foreigners not his countrymen. "We have gone from favourites of the World Cup to the laughing stock of the neighbourhood. I can't go outside in case the neighbour sees me and asks what happened to those 'superstars'."
 
What happened, some feared, was what always happens. One of the country's most respected football writers, Santi Segurola, talked about "Spain return[ing] to the fatalism that has characterized her World Cup appearances," adding: "This defeat closes that happy cycle that we had embarked upon." One of the country's rather less respected yet extremely popular writers, Tomás Roncero moaned: "All our familiar demons returned."
 
Except that they didn't, not really. While Marca's cover ran on "the same old story with Spain?", significantly they did so with a question mark. And in brackets alongside it insisted: "relax, we're still the best side in the world." Most were, in the words of Marca, trying to see the glass still half full, not half empty. After all, much as the defeat was a shock that complicates life in Group H, Spain should still progress.
 
During Euro 2008 the slogan adopted by Cuatro Television was "Podemos", We Can Do It. Today, it has been adapted to "Aún Podemos." We Can Still Do It. "Spain did not come to the World Cup to win the opening game; they came to the World Cup to win the World Cup," insisted Juanma Trueba. "It just wasn't our day. But that doesn't mean it won't be our World Cup."
 
And anyway, Spain has, according to the headline on one match report, "used up all our bad luck." Which was pretty much the point. Most focussed on Spain's misfortune. They insisted that the team's style, despite the moments of criticism and the inevitable doubts that have now been raised, must be maintained; Spain should not lose faith nor compromise. Certainly not on the strength of one match - however important, however shocking it was. 
 
The Catalan journalist Cristina Cubero was busy welcoming fans to the World Cup - "the tournament where the team that plays the best football doesn't always win." One match report summed it up with a simple: "Switzerland hung off the crossbar and won with a rebounded, flukey goal that was offside." Meanwhile, Roncero was busy answering his own questions:
 
"Who attacked? Spain. Who took risks? Spain. Who kept on banging on the door? Spain. Who tried? Spain. Who played football? Spain. Who had chances? Spain. Who won? Switzerland. But I'm not having it; I'm not falling for the pessimism. We're winners now, ever since Vienna. Darkness will not return with us."
 
Over in Marca, Roberto Palomar pleaded for a little moral strength: "We have to keep believing. Suddenly people are acting like Villa is useless, Xavi is slow, Silva is greedy, Casillas is dozy, and Navas is just a runner. If you like Switzerland's style let's get out there and have eleven blokes with axes over their shoulders, a trunk under their arms and spend the game chopping away in the middle of the pitch, then. In other words, play a completely different sport."
 
Besides, there's always the referee to blame. Howard Webb allowed Switzerland's goal to stand despite it being "illegal," claimed the cover of Marca, handily overlooking the possible penalty and red card. And he turned down a clear Spanish penalty. No, says AS's front page, "two clear penalties." The Englishman "hurt Spain with every major decision." (And no, I didn't notice that either; nor did the thirty or so Spaniards who watched the match from the studios of Gol Televisión). 
 
But all that does not mean that Spain is completely blameless. No one is pointing the finger at Sara Carbonero - despite The Times' ridiculous claim that they are, which is a subject to which we might just return - but there have been criticisms. Criticisms of Spain's attitude, Iker Casillas's performance ("he's just not right", said former Barcelona player and coach Charly Rexach), their toothless attack and the futility of possession without a cutting edge.
 
"This has been coming for a long time," said the former Spain coach Luis Aragonés, "you have to go into every game with a competitive attitude, at 110 per cent." Sport described it as "a lesson in humility", Josep María Casanovas insisting "Spain thought they were superior - and paid a high price for it. And legendary Real Madrid player Alfredo Di Stéfano insisted "you can't celebrate success until you've won the game".
 
Not that Spain's players did, however excited press and public had got: Piqué insisted afterwards that "at least the nonsense about us being favourites and winning easily will end now."
 
They did, though, show a lack of attacking aggression and bite, with Villa looking tired and Torres only appearing in the second half. They dominated the fight - technically, at least, enjoying well over 60 per cent of possession and far more shots - but never delivered the knock out blow. Spain were, said Alfredo Relano, "like a boxer with injured hands: the punched but cautiously, softly." "Possession," added Segurola, "is [only] a good thing if you use it with a knife. Scandalous superiority does not mean anything."
 
Well, quite. After all, as one columnist noted: "I checked the rules of the game for the bit that says you win for having lots of the ball but I couldn't find it."