TORR BLIMEY ... Fernando Torres rifles in the opener for Spain against Republic of Ireland
FERNANDO TORRES was hailed for playing the ‘perfect’ game as Spain dumped Ireland out of Euro 2012 last night.
he Chelsea striker’s stunning double sent the Irish crashing to their heaviest defeat in 41 years.
Spain boss Vicente del Bosque raved: “We wanted to rely on Fernando’s quickness.
“He knows how to find space, he knows how to score and he did it very well. It was a perfect match.”
Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni said: “Something has changed from our qualifying campaign. Fear and tension has meant we have made mistakes we didn’t in the qualifiers.
“We can see the weight on the players’ shoulders. I’m very sad.”
Keeper Shay Given, 36, revealed he could be ready to quit international football. He said: “I’ll make my decision in the next few weeks.”
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Rank | Team | W/D/L | Pts |
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Cities & Stadiums
The Top 3 Teams of Previous Tournaments
Year | Winners | Runner-up | Third place |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | Spain | Germany | Russia / Turkey |
2004 | Greece | Portugal | Netherlands / Czech Republic |
2000 | France | Italy | Netherlands / Portugal |
1996 | Germany | Czech Republic | France / England |
1992 | Denmark | Germany | Netherlands / Sweden |
1988 | Netherlands | Soviet Union | Italy / West Germany |
1984 | France | Spain | Denmark / Portugal |
1980 | West Germany | Belgium | Czechoslovakia |
1976 | Czechoslovakia | West Germany | Netherlands |
1972 | West Germany | Soviet Union | Belgium |
1968 | Italy | Yugoslavia | England |
1964 | Spain | Soviet Union | Hungary |
1960 | Soviet Union | Yugoslavia | Czechoslovakia |