Del Bosque: Spain will never regret not sending Italy out with a 'biscotto'

29-Jun-2012 5:25:00 AM

The 61-year-old insists he does not lament not arranging a result against Croatia in the group stage to knock out the Azzurri, while saying there are no favourites in the final

Spain head coach Vicente del Bosque has insisted that he has no regrets for not sending Italy out at the group stage of Euro 2012 with a 'biscotto'.

Prior to the last round of group fixtures, there were fears that Spain and Croatia could arrange a 2-2 draw in their match - a result which would automatically knock the Italians out of the tournament.

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However, La Roja won the game 1-0, which allowed the Azzurri to finish second in the group following a 2-0 victory over Republic of Ireland, and the two Group C rivals will now face off in the final of Euro 2012.

Ahead of the showdown on Sunday, Del Bosque said that he will never regret passing the opportunity to arrange the score against Croatia - known as 'biscotto' in Italy.

"We will never regret not having done a biscotto, not having sent Italy out," Del Bosque told Onda Cero. "We did what we had to do.

"We will play with our weapons and we will keep our playing style, but I would say it will be a 50-50 game."

The group match between the two sides ended in a 1-1 draw, but Del Bosque stressed that he will not take too many conclusions from that game.

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"I think they will use the same team and the system from the match against Germany," he continued. "We will not be conditioned by the first game, and neither will they."

The coach pointed out that despite sometimes mixed performances by Spain at Euro 2012, they had yet to struggle at the hands of any team or player during the tournament.

"In yesterday's [Wednesday's] match against Portugal, the threat of Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo was nothing more than a threat," Del Bosque opined.

"There has not been any negative episode. Tomorrow [Friday], we will get back to work to recover."

Sunday's final in Kiev will kick off at 20:45CET.

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