Del Bosque happy with Spain formation

Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque felt his decision to start with Cesc Fabregas rather than a recognised centre-forward was justified by the Barcelona midfielder’s goal in the 1-1 draw against Italy yesterday.

Del Bosque deployed a surprising 4-6-0 formation, preferring to select a raft of attacking midfielders rather than a striker but Fabregas, who played the ’false number nine’ role, got a 64th-minute equaliser to cancel out Antonio Di Natale’s opener.