10 Best team performances of the decade (2010-2019)

#3 Spain 4-0 Italy, Euro 2012 final – 1st July 2012

Spain dismantled Italy in the final of Euro 2012

Vicente del Bosque’s Spain had won the 2010 World Cup with their variant of Barcelona’s tiki-taka style, making use of the talents of Barca stars like Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Sergio Busquets, but their performance in the final of that tournament had been somewhat lacking. Two years later though, they retained their European Championship crown by destroying Italy in a stunning, one-sided final that represented a side at the peak of their powers.

The two sides had actually met earlier in the tournament, playing out a 1-1 draw in the group stage with Spain actually playing without a conventional striker. The same system was repeated in the final – with midfield playmakers Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas and David Silva being deployed as pseudo-forwards – but this time, Italy were well beaten, conceding more goals in a single game than they had across the entire tournament.

The match was dominated by Spain from the off; Italian playmaker Andrea Pirlo was never allowed to impose his will on the game as he’d done against sides like England and Germany in earlier rounds, while Spain’s midfield trio of Xabi Alonso, Busquets and Xavi seemed to hold a monopoly on the ball.

David Silva opened the scoring on 14 minutes with a header, and despite Spain waiting until the 41st minute to double their lead through Jordi Alba, it never felt like the Italians were truly in the game. Usually two late goals – in this case in the 84th and 88th minutes – would flatter the winning side, but not in this case. A 4-0 win was the least that this incredible performance deserved.