Madrid, July 2 (IANS) The Spanish media hailed their football team after they were crowned European Champions Sunday night with a 4-0 win over Italy.
Spain’s victory, which came thanks to goals from David Silva, Jordi Alba, Fernando Torres and Juan Mata, means the side coached by Vicente del Bosque are the first team ever to retain the European Championship while winning the World Cup between the two continental triumphs, reported Xinhua.
Spain had previously won the 2008 European Championships and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Unsurprisingly the national sporting papers Marca and AS lead with huge photos of the post game celebrations, with Marca calling Spain “The greatest (side) in history”, while AS simply states that Spain are “Triple Champions” (Tricampeones).
Meanwhile the Barcelona based El Mundo Deportivo, repeats AS’ headline, while highlighting that Jordi Alba, who scored Spain’s second goal and was arguably their best player on the night, officially joined Barca last week.
The euphoria also carried over into the normal daily papers with El Pais leading with a photo of Spain captain, Iker Casillas, lifting the trophy and the headline “Spain conquers the triple crown.”
El Mundo carried a similar photo and the title “Legendary Champions” and the conservative ABC, once again prints the photo of Casillas surrounded by his companions and the headline, “Spain enters the legend of World football.”
The Spain squad fly back to Madrid Monday and will drive through the capital to show the trophy to hundreds of thousands of supporters who are expected to line the streets.
