Spanish riches fail to yield golden goal

From Spain, all the old worries; from Italy, all the old strengths.

Spain had 60 per cent of the ball, yet struggled to turn it into chances; Italy stayed deep, looked to strike on the break and were persistently dangerous. Vicente del Bosque played the more progressive tactics, but this was a tactical victory for the Italy coach Cesare Prandelli.

Against England in November, Spain had played David Silva as a false nine, with David Villa to the left and Andres Iniesta to the right. That night, they struggled to break down a resolute England playing the familiar two banks of four and the general theory was that, at national level, it doesn’t pay to overcomplicate things: systems that can work at club level when the players can work on them in training are not for the international game.