After the initial 1-1 draw with Italy in the group stages, and a nerve-wrecking penalty shootout against Portugal among other matches, Spain beat Italy by a whopping 4-0 to retain their Euro Championship title.
It was inevitable. Right from the start, the Spanish side showed much spunk and conviction and despite starting with no strikers at all, the number of attempts (from Arbeloa, Ramos, Xavi) was enough to keep Italian goalkeeper, Buffon, busy. Of course the tiki-taka chases from Spain remained, and a moment of brilliance from Fabregas allowed the ball to find David Silva's head, which eventually led the ball to its goal.
Italy started playing slightly better after this, giving Spain and Casillas a little more pressure. However, a great counter-attack and a precise through-ball from Xavi allowed Jordi Alba to extend Spain's lead and dampen the Italian side's moods further.
Halftime was as exciting than the first, with both teams creating decent chances for themselves. Things then started to look extremely bleak for Italy when their third substitute, Thaigo Motta tore his hamstring, which meant that they were down to ten men. And at the 75th minute when Torres come on for Fabregas (imagine Stef's and my elation HAHA), it was all over. Despite not getting the ball for almost ten minutes since he came on, his first touch ensued a 3-0 lead for Spain, assisted by Xavi (again).
Mata then came on for Iniesta (who was crowned Man of the Match), and it just seemed it was a substitution for the sake of finishing the number of subs available. Just after two minutes though, after another brilliant pass from Xavi, Torres drew Buffon to him before sliding the ball to Mata to easily chip it into the goal. Now that's what we all want to see - unselfish playing - Torres could have taken the shot but he did not, and secured the last goal for Spain, which also happened to be a record win for any Euro final. The last opportunity for Spain was a pass from Torres to Ramos, who attempted a backheel. Buffon saved it and the defender ran off with a cheeky smile on his face (I had a smile on my face too). And the rest, it's just history.
So for all you critics labeling Spain as 'unentertaining' and 'boring', this final match proved everyone of you wrong.
For rarely starting with a striker, it was also another surprise that Torres will be going home with the Golden Boot - with 3 goals scored in just 189 minutes played (including the two against Ireland). As if that bonus was not enough, Ramos overtook Ronaldo on the Castrol EDGE Index to be on top with a score of 9.69. He also topped the same ranking in the World Cup two years ago. That's my boy!
The celebration was nothing but a baby fest. The players brought out all of their gorgeous kids and it was all really cute. *cries*
"Daddy you were fantastic today!"
Pepe Reina with his son
Torres playing with everyone's kids awww
My perfect Real Madrid boys ♥
Campeones! ¡Viva España!
I do not own any of the pictures.
Ramos and his niece
Xabi Alonso and his family. His son doesn't seem to like the trophy very much hahaha
I do not own any of the pictures.
1 comment:
The best thing about Spain is, they always leave the best for last. I predict another victory for them at World Cup 2014! But l am sure the German will do something about that.
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