It's evident that Spain was a much better team than Italy last Thursday in the World Cup Qualifier, the final result was a 1-1 draw which Italy managed to save in the second half. For manager Giampiero Ventura, the Italians were fortunate for Sergio Ramos' mistake which granted them a penalty Daniele de Rossi scored from the spot. But Ventura thinks luck was on their side, because Italy was not the better team.
Ventura told the press that: "It's a good result, especially if we take into account our players' physical problems and Spain's quality. I saw a great reaction from all of the players. Spain are widely regarded as the group's favorites, but tonight's game has taught us many things, one of them being that we can achieve our goals if we want to. We can do much better, we can absolutely compete at the top level."
Ventura regrets his squad's weak start by adding: "We had some players who were a bit too tense. Every time we won back the ball, we gave it away two seconds later. A little bit more character was needed, but we got less anxious later on and we began to play football, we created the chances to equalize and even win. They had more possession, but you all saw how their goal came and I don't recall any saves from Buffon."
Photo credit: Italy