Last night Spain won the Euro 2012 final by scoring 4 goals to defeat the reinvented Italy.
Boring? Or simply unbeatable?
In the process Spain became the first team to retain the European title, the first team in Europe to win three football trophies back to back, and achieved the highest goal margin in a Championship final. Not only does that give them many football medals and a whole host of credentials, but it makes them one of the greatest teams ever to wear a national football kit.
Spain only conceded one goal in the whole tournament, and that was against Italy in the group stages. The last goal they conceded during a knockout stage was from Zidane in the 2006 World Cup – which France went on to win.
Their record is phenomenal, they played this final with a trademark pass-and-move style that has taken a lot of abuse recently. It was mentioned that the style was boring, it was also mentioned during the game that they had missed the point of football in that they don’t entertain.
Well, they certainly entertained in this match. They stepped off the coach before the game in their red adidas tracksuits knowing they had a job to do and they went out and did it. Italy were stifled right from the start.
The masterful playmaker Andrea Pirlo was resigned to staying in his own half due to being closed down every time he touched the balls and Balotelli was swarmed upon by the Spaniards rendering him useless. Italy could not get enough possession in the danger areas to cause a real threat.
The Spanish team scored 12 goals and conceded one throughout Euro 2012, teams that play against them rarely even get a look at Casillas’s football nets, and it is going to take something very special from a team to beat them in a competitive tournament.
Una selección de leyenda golea a Italia en la final de la #euro2012 y consigue triplete histórico #larojaisallin twitter.com/adidas_ES/stat…
— adidas_ES (@adidas_ES) July 1, 2012
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