World champions Spain took their place among the game's greats when they thrashed Italy 4-0 to become the first team to win successive European Championship titles on Sunday.

Goals from David Silva, Jordi Alba, Fernando Torres and Juan Mata gave the world champions an easy victory over an Italian team down to 10 men through injury for the last half-hour.

The diminutive Silva scored with a rare header after a Cesc Fabregas pull-back in the 14th minute before a superb sprint finish from left-back Alba following a pinpoint Xavi pass doubled their lead four minutes before halftime.

Torres, who scored the winner in the final when they won the title in 2008, struck their third goal in the 84th minute before setting up fellow substitute Mata to add the final flourish in the 88th.

Italy had more possession than Spain in the opening half but when they did have a sniff of goal goalkeeper Iker Casillas maintained his astonishing record of not conceding a goal in the knockout stage of a tournament for the 10th successive match.

Spain have become the first European side to win three major tournaments following their success in Euro 2008 and the World Cup two years ago.

The only other team to win three successive major titles was Argentina who lifted the Copa America in 1945, 1946 and 1947 when that tournament was held annually.

Spain, who started without a recognised striker, were all artistry and guile in midfield while Italy, whose own creator Andrea Pirlo failed to shine, were handicapped by having only 10 men from the hour mark after using up all three substitutes.

The third of them, Thiago Motta, only lasted four minutes after replacing Riccardo Montolivo in the 57th before limping off with a hamstring injury.

Italy went close twice through second half substitute Antonio Di Natale but Mario Balotelli, the two-goal hero of their 2-1 semi-final win over Germany, rarely looked like scoring.

The opening goal came when Andres Iniesta split the Italy defence with an incisive pass to Fabregas who outpaced Giorgio Chiellini to get to the byline where he pulled the ball back to Silva who flashed his header past the helpless Buffon.

The second came when Alba tore past the static Leonardo Bonucci and planted a perfect left foot shot past Gianluigi Buffon.

Torres then ran through to score the third after another Xavi through ball before setting up Mata with a deft flick.

Torres bags golden boot;  Iniesta wins player award
Fernando Torres has been confirmed by UEFA as the winner of its prestigious Golden Boot award for his goal and assist in the closing six minutes of Spain's 4-0 triumph over Italy in the final took him to three goals and one assist for the tournament - level with Germany's Mario Gomez who also has three goals and an assist.

However, Torres took home the Golden Boot prize by virtue of having played fewer minutes (189) at the tournament than Gomez (282).

Spanish left wing Andres Iniesta was named player of Euro 2012 on Monday by European football governing body UEFA. The 28-year-old - who was man of the match in Spain's historic 4-0 win over Italy in Sunday's final - was selected by a technical committee made up of 11 people.

Whilst the Barcelona star failed to score and set up just one of the Spaniards goals through the tournament he won the award for his overall influence and effect on the Spanish attacking play.

However, his one assist was a crucial one as it set up Jesus Navas for the only goal in the final group game against Croatia while his pass to Cesc Fabregas led to the first goal in the final - Fabregas's cross being headed home by David Silva.

Iniesta, who prior to the final was battling out the player of the tournament award with Andrea Pirlo, succeeds compatriot and Barcelona team-mate Xavi, who won the award at the 2008 edition.

Iniesta, who was also their goalscoring hero in the 1-0 win over the Dutch in the 2010 World Cup final, was one of 10 Spaniards to figure in the 23-man squad of the tournament.

Spain broke plenty of records against Italy
73 – the amount of seconds it took Juan Mata to score after the Chelsea midfielder had emerged from the bench late in the second half.

His goal is the quickest ever scored by a substitute in a Euro final.
1 – Fernando Torres became the first player to score a goal in two separate Euro finals having found the back of the net last night.

The striker scored the winner four years ago against Germany to help Spain secure their first trophy in 44 years.

9 – The amount of clean sheets kept by Iker Casillas in European Championship games, equalling Edwin van der Sar’s record.

12 – European Championship games unbeaten for Spain, stretching back to 2008. Unsurprisingly, this is a new record.

3 – Trophies won by Vicente del Bosque, Spain’s manager, making him the first to claim World Cup, the Champions League and European Championship trophies.

1 - Spain are the first side to win the Euros in its current guise having conceded just one goal.
100 – Iker Casillas became the first player to reach 100 international victories last night. “San Iker’ is only 31-years-old.

3 - Spain have equalled Germany’s record of three European Championship wins (1964, 2008 and 2012).
509 – Minutes Iker Casillas went without conceding a goal at Euro 2012, breaking the previous record, set by Dino Zoff (494 minutes)

4 – Spain became the first side to score four goals in a European Championship final last night.
2 – Assists last night for Xavi, making him the first player to provide an assist in two Euro finals.

3 – La Roja became the first team to win three consecutive major international tournaments having won Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup to go along with last night’s success.

5 – David Silva was involved in five goals, scoring two and setting up three, more than any one else at Euro 2012.

15358 – the amount of Tweets sent per second during Spain’s victory over Italy last night, a new record for a sporting event.

Extraordinary Spain played own game: Bosque
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque labelled his side’s record-breaking performance in Kiev as “extraordinary”.

La Roja became the first international side to win three successive major tournaments thanks to their 4-0 win over Italy, the biggest final win in European Championship history. First-half goals from David Silva and Jordi Alba put Spain in control.

And once Thiago Motta had gone off with a hamstring injury just four minutes after his introduction, Italy were forced to play the final half hour with 10 men.

That allowed Spain to really rub it in as Fernando Torres added a third before setting up Chelsea team-mate Juan Mata to wrap up an incredible win.

“It’s true we were lucky enough to play a great match,” said Del Bosque. “Everything worked for us. “It was an extraordinary performance against a difficult opponent.”

The manner of the triumph was the perfect answer to a growing number of critics, who have labelled Spain boring.

Arsene Wenger joined that band with some particularly pointed comments earlier on Sunday. Wenger was present in Kiev in his role as a pundit for French TV and could not fail to be impressed.

Del Bosque insisted there was no outside influence involved in Spain’s success. “We played our own game,” he said. “There were no real external influences: we were faithful to what we’ve done in recent years.”

Del Bosque expressed some sympathy for Italy, who had less preparation time after Thursday’s semi-final win over Germany.

“The Italians have played a great tournament,” said Del Bosque. “They had the bad luck of the injury to Thiago Motta and that’s where it all ended for them, unfortunately.”

Andres Iniesta claimed the man-of-the-match award after another exceptional performance. He is one of four players - Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Xavi are the others - to have started all three final triumphs. “It’s very nice to have this man-of-the-match trophy but it’s especially great to be champions again,” he said.

“The team played a great match and all the players were at their top level. “We are very happy.” Iniesta backed up Del Bosque’s sentiments about criticism having no effect.
The Barcelona man insisted Spain stayed true to their beliefs.

Euro Championship Winners
1960 - USSR
1964 - Spain
1968 - Italy
1972 - West Germany
1976 - Czechoslovakia
1980 - West Germany
1984 - France
1988 - Holland
1992 - Denmark
1996 - Germany
2000 - France
2004 - Greece
2008 - Spain
2012 - Spain