Spain became the first country to win three major football competitions in a row. Last Sunday, they crushed Italy to retain the European title they won four years ago, which they topped up with the World Cup victory in South Africa in 2010. Never before had a team won a final with a four-goal margin.

The final in Kiev was one-sided right from the start, and once the Spaniards took the lead after 14 minutes it was clear that they were in for an easy night. The Italians, struggling with their fitness, never appeared to bother their opponents and bar a couple of half-chances, they never threatened the Spanish goal.

Goalkeeper Iker Casillas kept another clean sheet in the knock-out stages of major competitions. The last time he was beaten was in 2006 when Spain were beaten by France.

The Italians achieved more than they expected in this competition. Nobody thought they would make it to the final this time round. But thanks to coach Prandelli they managed to draw on their limited resources to outplay England in the quarter-finals and Germany in the semis, only to lose all their steam in the last match. Here, the coach made some tactical blunders that cost him dearly, but Italy have to thank him for giving Italy such a different image than the one we were used to.

For once, the Italians played attacking football all throughout the tournament, a far cry from the defensive approach they adopted for decades.

They are still several notches below the standard reached by Spain, and not only in the final itself. Spain are a delight to watch. Their possession game seems effortless and at times boring, but they are clever enough to then find the right opportunity to play the ball in their opponents’ penalty area, often creating goal-scoring chances. The fact that, on occasions, Spain play without real strikers and yet they manage to win is a good indication of their strength. A look at the bench and the fact that Spain played the tournament without Puyol and Villa says it all about the depth of this squad.

All in all, they deserved to be crowned European champions for the second time running. And they can now look forward to trying to retain their World title in Brazil in 2014.

As for Italy, they should be happy with what they achieved. They have nothing to be ashamed of.