Vicente Del Bosque basks in 'extraordinary' Spain achievement

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Vicente Del Bosque kept up Spain's winning record with a third major trophy© REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque labelled his side's record-breaking performance in Kiev as "extraordinary".

La Roja became the first international side to win three successive major tournaments thanks to their 4-0 win over Italy, the biggest final win in European Championship history.

First-half goals from David Silva and Jordi Alba put Spain in control.

And once Thiago Motta had gone off with a hamstring injury just four minutes after his introduction, Italy were forced to play the final half hour with ten men.

That allowed Spain to really rub it in as Fernando Torres added a third before setting up Chelsea team-mate Juan Mata to wrap up an incredible win.

Del Bosque said: "It's true we were lucky enough to play a great match. Everything worked for us.

"It was an extraordinary performance against a difficult opponent."

The manner of the triumph answered a growing number of critics, who have labelled Spain boring.

Del Bosque insisted there was no outside influence involved in Spain's success.

He said: "We played our own game. There were no real external influences and we were faithful to what we've done in recent years."

Del Bosque expressed some sympathy for Italy, who had less preparation time after Thursday's semi-final win over Germany.

He added: "The Italians have played a great tournament. They had the bad luck of the injury to Thiago Motta and that's where it all ended for them, unfortunately."

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