Euro 2012: Final: Spain v Italy match thread

[DuDe]

Come on ref, blow the whistle.

 

[nidge]

Done and dusted.

 

[cwy21]

Torres wins the golden boot.

He wins it because he played fewer minutes.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

I take the possession point, but I think Spain stopped Italy playing and scored two sensational footballling goals.

Xavi was Pirlo's shadow throughout the first half, preventing him getting any room to dictate play. It's the first time in the tournament a team managed to stop Pirlo.

Xavi proved that to mark a playmaker out of the game you don't need to kick or foul him. Xavi simply closed Pirlo's space down, and moved his body to block his preferred pass. As a playmaker himself, Xavi was almost reading Pirlo's thoughts.

The two Spanish goals were made by fantastic timing of the through ball: Iniesta for Fabregas (to cross for Silva) and Xavi for Alba. It was vision combined with technique combined with timing to hit the player on the run in stride. Beautiful football.

I am a huge admirer of Spain and the football they play. But I think you could also look at that first half and say it's not often a team manages to prevent Spain having as much of the ball in dangerous areas as Italy did that first half. As I pointed out Pirlo at half time had had more ball than Xavi and only one less (I think) than Iniesta. How many opposition playmakers get to see that much ball against Spain ?

Spain's goals were beautifully crafted (do they score any other ?) but I was impressed with how Italy were prepared to take some of the game to Spain at times and had the courage and ability to not just sit back and try and stop them. I think the difference was purely that Spain have three/four Pirlo's and Italy only had one !

 

[Welshiespursboyo]

Spain are simply unbelievable. One of the greatest international teams of all time, surely.

 

[Kingstheman]

I found that boring - in a sort of modern day heavy weight boxing way.

 

[Mattspur]

To easy. Spain are a different class.

Shame that it was like an exhibition match as it lacked the tension of a cup final.

Well done Spain. The best team won it.

 

[nightgoat]

Torres wins the golden boot.

He wins it because he played fewer minutes.

I hope Lawrenson's bet was Golden Boot Winner, rather than Top Goalscorer, otherwise his 16/1 is split six ways...

 

[nidge]

I am a huge admirer of Spain and the football they play. But I think you could also look at that first half and say it's not often a team manages to prevent Spain having as much of the ball in dangerous areas as Italy did that first half. As I pointed out Pirlo at half time had had more ball than Xavi and only one less (I think) than Iniesta. How many opposition playmakers get to see that much ball against Spain ?

Spain's goals were beautifully crafted (do they score any other ?) but I was impressed with how Italy were prepared to take some of the game to Spain at times and had the courage and ability to not just sit back and try and stop them. I think the difference was purely that Spain have three/four Pirlo's and Italy only had one !

Pirlo might have seen as much of the ball as Xavi and Iniesta but I doubt that Pirlo had as many touches in the opposition half as Xavi and Iniesta did. The thing I think Spain did very well was to stop Pirlo getting the ball in positions where he could damage them. I am almost certain the majority of Pirlo's touches were deep in his own half.

 

[Misfit]

Wow. Kudos to Spain. Can't argue with that. Just a big phat exclamation mark. Commiserations Italy. Well done on getting to final, bad luck in having to face the butt-fucking from Spain.

 

[yawa]

Did they show Balotelli leaving the field on the uk coverage? From the looks of it he won't be back to pick up medal.

 

[mpickard2087]

Magnificent from Spain :clap:

 

[SlickMongoose]

Did they show Balotelli leaving the field on the uk coverage? From the looks of it he won't be back to pick up medal.

Good timing.

 

[yawa]

As I type that they show him coming back out.

 

[nightgoat]

Can we have Sara Carbonero interviewing Casillas now please?

 

[tiger666]

What a **** Balotelli is. Whilst his team shake hands and applaud the Italian fans he storms off and cries.

 

[SlickMongoose]

What a **** Balotelli is. Whilst his team shake hands and applaud the Italian fans he storms off and cries.

Maybe he needed the loo.

 

[DuDe]

Platini ... what a ****.

 

[yanno]

I am a huge admirer of Spain and the football they play. But I think you could also look at that first half and say it's not often a team manages to prevent Spain having as much of the ball in dangerous areas as Italy did that first half.

Don't particularly disagree with that and we concur Spain's goals were brllliantly crafted.

As I pointed out Pirlo at half time had had more ball than Xavi and only one less (I think) than Iniesta. How many opposition playmakers get to see that much ball against Spain ?

I was watching Pirlo closely, and he was getting really frustrated at not being able to dictate play. Always there was a player in his way, shadowing him and stopping him dictating play. Making him pass it sideways, or spin away from the ball to try to make space. Time after time it was Xavi close to him. Which feeds into your last point....

I think the difference was purely that Spain have three/four Pirlo's and Italy only had one !

Spain were able to sacrifice one of their playmakers, Xavi, to closing Pirlo down. That said, Xavi was still able to make the killer pass to Alba.

If Torres was the player of two years ago, giving them a proper striker, Spain would be one of the greatest teams of all time.

 

[daryl]

THAT WAS AN ABSOLUTE MASTERCLASS,,