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David Silva celebrates his goal - Source: Reuters
Keep up with the action from the Euro 2012 final between
Spain and Italy from the Olympic Stadium in Kiev.
Full-time Spain 4-0 Italy
Spain win their third major tournament in four years. They
completely outclassed a tired looking Italian side tonight and
after copping criticism for so-called boring play fired four
fantastic goals. The team who were once described as the
underachievers of world football have well and truly shaken that
tag.
90min
Three minutes of extra time to be played. delaying the
inevitable.
87min Spain 4-0 Italy
And another for Spain. Torres gets through, lays the ball
off to Juan Mata who finishes his shot at an open net.
83min Spain 3-0 Italy
Torres scores for Spain and that will do it. The man who
won it for them in 2008 seals the 2012 title with the third goal.
Xavi Hernandez put in an excellent through ball and Torres just
slid it past Buffon into the bottom right corner. Too easy.
78min
Spain break forward again and look likely, Pedro misses
the target with his attempted finish, but he's called offside
anyway.
75min
Fernando Torres enters the fray for Spain as Cesc
Fabregas leaves the field to a standing ovation from the Spanish
fans.
73min
This game has lost its edge in the last 10 minutes.
Slowed right down to walking pace.
67min
That injury looks to have killed Italian hopes. Spain are
keeping them pegged back in their half and it wouldn't be a
surprise to see a third goal.
61min
Italy's Thiago Motta, who only entered the game four
minutes ago has left the field with what looks to be a hamstring
injury. Italy have already made their changes and will be a man
down for the final 30 minutes.
57min
Balotelli has another crack from distance, but again he
fails to hit the target.
55min
Pirlo nearly finds Di Natale in the box, but he just over
hits his aerial ball and Casillas collects it.
53min
Iniesta gets a ball into Fabregas, but he is ruled
offside.
51min
Di Natale gets another chance, but Casillas parries away
the first effort and collects the rebound.
47min
Italy have to scramble for their lives as Buffon fumbles
one, but Abate comes to the rescue and clears the danger.
46min
Di Natale makes an impression immediately as his head
connects with an exceptional cross from Abate. However he can't
keep it down and it just sails over the bar.
45min
Italy make a change at half-time with Di Natale replacing
Cassano.
Half-time Spain 2-0 Italy
45 minutes to go and Spain are completely in control now
thanks to goals to Silva and Alba. It's an uphill battle for
the Azzuri from here and they will need nothing short of a miracle
to prevent Spain from lifting their third consecutive major
trophy.
44min
Barzagli is booked after bringing down Iniesta. He needed
to stop him though as Spain looked like finding a third to kill the
contest before half-time.
41min Spain 2-0 Italy
Jordi Alba scores Spain's second and they have one hand
on the trophy. Xavi Hernandez played the perfect through ball to
put Alba one on one with Buffon and he makes no mistake at all in
putting his shot into the back of the net.
38min
Super Mario fires in a long range effort, but he can't
keep the shot down and Casillas doesn't need to move for it.
32min
Cassano forces another save out of Casillas. The Spanish
goalkeeper has to stretch a bit further for this one, but he does
well to deflect the ball away.
31min
Italy build nicely and Pirlo tries to find Abate on the
right flank, but his ball beats the man out for a goal kick.
28min
Cassano puts a shot on target for Italy, it was good
lead up work, but the shot was quite tame and easily dealt with by
Casillas.
26min
Iker Casillas is tested by a good cross into the box from
Balzaretti. It almost finds the head of Balotelli, but Casillas
punches it away to clear the danger.
24min
Gerard Pique is booked for a dangerous challenge on
Cassano as Italy start to enjoy a bit of time on the ball.
22min
Giorgio Chiellini hobbles off the pitch with what looks
like a knee injury - on comes left-back Federico Balzaretti for the
Azzuri.
20min
Italy are forced to scramble in defence to stop two
attacking efforts from the Spanish. Iniesta almost managed to
manufacture a clear shot, but Pirlo was there to save the
day.
16min
Daniele de Rossi has a reasonable chance to score from a
corner, but his header misses the target.
14min Spain 1-0 Italy
Spain score! David Silva puts Spain in front. Silva
applies the finish to Cesc Fàbregas clipped pull-back after
the FC Barcelona man reached the byline with an excellent surging
run.
10min
Yet another Spanish attempt goes high of the goal. This
time it's Xavi as Spain continue to control the ball. They don't
look shy to pull the trigger with five attempts on goal
already.
7min
Spain are awarded the first corner of the match,
Xavi finds the head of Ramos, but the ball sails over the
crossbar once more. Spain are starting to take control and getting
into their famous passing game.
6min
De Rossi is penalised for a foul on Xavi, but Sergio
Ramos' long distance free kick is above the target.
1min
Italy have the first shot of the match, but it's a
horrible long range effort from Pirlo and is sliced well wide of
the target.
Pre-match
Spain have not managed an outright win against Euro 2012 final opponents Italy in seven major tournament meetings, suggesting the holders will have their work cut out to join the pantheon of soccer's great teams tomorrow morning
Spain will not care whether a victory comes in extra time or via the first European Championship to be decided on penalties because if they lift the trophy they would become the first team to win three major tournaments in a row.
Since losing to Switzerland in their first match of the 2010 World Cup, Vicente Del Bosque's keep-ball specialists have won 17 out of 19 competitive matches and another scalp would draw them level with Germany's record of three Euro triumphs.
Spain's exciting free-flowing brand of football displayed in their march to the Euro 2008 and 2010 World Cup titles has not been of the same high quality during this tournament while challengers Italy have surprisingly been more adventurous.
The four-times world champions, who have only lost two of their last 19 matches outright at Euro finals, have the perfect combination of a rock-solid defence, midfield artistry in Andrea Pirlo and forwards capable of flashes of genius.
Spain midfielder David Silva will be telling Del Bosque all about the unique talents of his Manchester City club mate Mario Balotelli, whose two brilliant goals for Italy in the semi-final subdued a shell-shocked Germany in Warsaw.
Spain will hope 'Super Mario' does not spring into life at the Olympic Stadium for the grand finale, the last match of the 16-team European Championship era before France host an expanded tournament of 24 nations in 2016.
Spain: 1-Iker Casillas; 17-Alvaro Arbeloa, 15-Sergio Ramos, 3-Gerard Pique, 18-Jordi Alba; 16-Sergio Busquets, 14-Xabi Alonso, 8-Xavi; 6-Andres Iniesta, 21-David Silva, 10-Cesc Fabregas
Italy: 1-Gianluigi Buffon; 7-Ignazio Abate, 15-Andrea Barzagli, 19-Leonardo Bonucci, 3-Giorgio Chiellini; 21-Andrea Pirlo; 8-Claudio Marchisio, 18-Riccardo Montolivo, 16-Daniele De Rossi; 9-Mario Balotelli, 10-Antonio Cassano Referee: Pedro Proenca (Portugal) (Edited by Tom Pilcher)