Spain rediscovered their magic on Sunday to beat ailing Italy 4-0 in the
Euro 2012 final and with it became the first nation to win three big
football titles in a row.
David Silva (14th), Jordi Alba (41st), Fernando Torres (84th) and Juan
Mata (88th) were on target as Barcelona midfielders Xavi and Andres
Iniesta pulled the strings in midfield in their usual commanding style
after some slightly below-par performances earlier in the tournament.
Spain became the first team to get a big event hat-trick following
titles at Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup with the biggest winning
margin in a final, are the first to win back-to-back Euro titles and
matched Germany’s record three continental titles, the first being in
1964.
Italy, who had held Spain 1-1 in their opening group match and made a
surprise run to the final with a 2-1 victory over Germany in the semis,
failed to end a 44-year drought since their only Euro trophy in 1968.
The Azzurri were down to 10 men for the final half hour as Thiago Motta
was stretchered off injured four minutes after coming on and coach
Cesare Prandelli had already made all three substitutions.
Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque fielded a line-up without a recognised
striker, with Barcelona’s Cesc Fabregas in a strengthened midfield just
as in the group game with Italy on June 10.
Italy saw Ignazio Abate back from injury at right-back in place of
Federico Balzaretti for the final, which started after a short closing
ceremony in front of 64,000 fans in Kiev — with Spain’s crown prince
Felipe in attendance along with the Prime Ministers from both finalist
countries, Mariano Rajoy and Mario Monti, and President Bronislaw
Komorowski from Euro co-hosts Poland.
Spain’s famed passing game swiftly shaped up, and they took the lead in
the 14th minute after Sergio Ramos and Xavi had aimed high.
Iniesta sent a surgical pass into the back of the Italian defence into
the path of Fabregas, who shook off Giorgio Chiellini and crossed
shortly before the touchline for Silva to send a thumping header into
the roof of the net.
Italy responded with a series of corner kicks to their first deficit of
the tournament but their mood didn’t get better when Chiellini had to
limp out injured in the 20th and was replaced by Balzaretti.
Spain sat back a little bit and Iker Casillas just got his hand on a
cross with Mario Balotelli lurking right behind him. The keeper was also
on his guard against two shots from Antonio Cassano as Italy forced
their way back into the game.
But just as Italy and their playmaker Andrea Pirlo semed to have found
their rhythm Spain struck again in the 41st. The left-back Alba fed Xaxi
in midfield, raced down the pitch and got a perfect pass back to beat
Gianluigi Buffon with a deft left-footer. Prandelli brought Antonio di
Natale for Cassano in the second-half and the Udinese captain headed
inches high less than a minute after the restart.
Fabregas came close twice on the other end and Spain appealed in vain to
Portuguese referee Pedro Proenca for a penalty in the 48th when replays
showed that Leonardo Bonucci clearly handled the ball off Ramos’
header.
Prandelli tried to contain Spain with Thiago Motta in midfield for
Riccardo Montolivo but the idea was shortlived, as Motta seemingly
injured his hamstring and had to be taken off on a stretcher.
With Pirlo and Balotelli, the two-goal hero against Germany, well
marked, and being one man up, Spain had no further trouble seeing out
the game, which now lacked the class and flair of its first hour.
But there was time for two more goals, in the 84th when Torres, on for
Fabregas, put away another super pass from Xavi, and Torres then fed the
final substitute Mata in the 88th as Spain also got the biggest winning
margin in a Euro final — beating West Germany’s 3-0 over the Soviet
Union from 1972.
DPA
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