The two sides had met in their opening match which ended one all, so this had the makings of a good contest. In that match the Italians took the game to Spain and even took the lead, the Spanish started that contest without a recognised striker and were expected to do the same here. Italy had surprised Germany in their semi final to qualify whilst Spain had edged out rivals Portugal on penalties.
The Spanish started this game strongly as they attacked from the get go, they were pushing and probing the Italian defence which lead to their opening goal with David Silva heading in after good work from Cesc Fabregas. Spain were totally on top here as Italy barley threatened. Left back Jordi Alba completed a great run with a fine finish as he doubled Spain's lead four minutes before the interval.
The Italians brought on opening match goal scorer Antonio Di Natale for the second half, this showed much needed attacking intent and he was denied by Iker Casillas in what was probably his side's best chance. Things got worse for the Italians as Thiago Motto pulled up injured just minutes after coming on and as they had used all their substitutes, they had to play the rest of the game with ten men.
Spain were in cruise control for the rest of the match and put the icing on the cake as Golden Boot winner Fernando Torres and Chelsea team mate Juan Mata, secured the win as well as the biggest winning margin in a European final.
So Spain have become the first international team to win three major trophies in a row, surely now they must be classed as the greatest international side of all time. Italy did well to reach the final but were totally outclassed as Spain showed why they are so great. It has been a fantastic tournament and roll on the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
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