Spain rules Europe again

WORLD champion, Spain yesterday at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine retained its European title as it beat Italy by four goals to nothing in the final of Euro 2012.It was indeed a sorry way to end a keenly-contested championship as the game many thought would be a grand spectacle ended up to be the biggest whitewash of the entire championship.The first goal of the match was scored by David Silva who headed from six yards a cross by Cesc Fabregas in 14th minute of the match.FC Barcelona new boy, Jordi Alba scored the second goal in the 41st minute of the game when his left-footed effort from the centre of penalty area from 12 yards landed in the bottom-left of Italy's goal.Substitute Fernando Torres rendered the final a one-sided affair when in the 84th minute, he slid in the third goal of the match and his third goal of the competition.Another substitute, Juan Mata made his presence felt when he netted in Spain's fourth in the 88th minute.Four years ago, Spain defeated Germany by a lone goal in a tournament co-hosted by Austria and Switzerland thus retaining the trophy and confirming its superiority on the continent.Booked as favourite for the championship, Spain met the brickwall in its opening game against the Italians who held them 1-1 but conquered all other opposition in breath-taking styles until the semi-final when it won a lottery of penalty kicks 4-2 over Portugal.Italy's coach, Cesare Prandelli, accepted La Roja's superiority.''We lost to the best team of the competition,'' he said in a post-match comment.''I am proud of my team. The expectation was low prior to this competition but we thought we had the chance of winning the championship, it is a good experience,'' he added.
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