KIEV - Spain cemented their status as soccer's global superpower in vintage style by thrashing an overwhelmed Italy 4-0 to retain their European championship title last night.
meant
they become the first team to win back-to-back European Championships - either
side of their maiden World Cup triumph in 2010.
Spain
attacked from the start and went ahead after 14 minutes with a David Silva
header and doubled the lead four minutes before halftime when left-back Jordi
Alba galloped past a frozen Italian defence onto a precise Xavi pass before
planting a confident shot beyond Gianluigi Buffon.
Italy's
slim hopes of a comeback disappeared when third substitute Thiago Motta pulled
a hamstring, leaving his side down to 10 men for the final half-hour.
Fernando
Torres became the first player to score in two Euro finals when he made it 3-0
six minutes from time. Substitute Juan Mata added the fourth.
European
Championship winners after last night's final are:
2012
Spain, 2008 Spain, 2004 Greece, 2000 France, 1996 Germany, 1992 Denmark, 1988
Netherlands, 1984 France, 1980 West Germany, 1976 West Germany, 1972 West
Germany, 1968 Italy, 1964 Spain and 1960 Soviet Union.
Top
scorers for 2012 are:
With
3 - Fernando Torres (Spain), Mario Gomez (Germany), Alan Dzagoyev (Russia),
Mario Mandzukic (Croatia), Mario Balotelli (Italy), Cristiano Ronaldo
(Portugal)
With
2 - Petr Jiracek (Czech Republic, Vaclav Pilar (Czech Republic), Nicklas
Bendtner (Denmark), Michael Krohn-Dehli (Denmark), Dimitris Salpingidis
(Greece), Xabi Alonso (Spain), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), David Silva (Spain),
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden) and Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine). routers
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