DEL BOSQUE WANTS SPAIN TO LEARN FROM THEIR WORLD CUP EXPERIENCE IN BRAZIL

The coach of Spain, Vicente del Bosque, wants the team to learn from their World Cup experience in Brazil as they attempt a third successive campaign at the Euro 2016 in France.

After the team lifted the Euro 2008 and 2012, also winning their first ever World Cup in South Africa 2010, they could not cope with the very high pressure of being the favourites to lift the trophy for a second successive time. They were surprisingly knocked out from the tournament in the first round.

Del Bosque told Marca on Monday that there is a difference between aim and an obligation. He said to win the title could not be an obligation and that important lessons remain to be learnt when any team loses. At the last World Cup, Spain lost their first two games, first was the 5-1 mauling by the Netherlands, who they defeated by a lone goal in the previous edition. After the game, the players were accused of being complacent and overconfident.

On that, Del Bosque said:

"It was not a humility issue but a sporting one. We lost against teams that were superior to us on the pitch. We never made excuses. We never thought we were superior or unbeatable.

"We go into the tournament with the maximum ambition and that is to defend the title that we achieved four years ago. It's the same situation that we were in at Euro 2012 but with a bit more responsibility because we now have to defend two straight titles."

On the main threat this time around where they are also favourites to lift the trophy again, Del Bosque picked Germany who are the current World Cup holders and the hosts France who both have a very strong team. He then added Italy due to their competitive gene, then maybe England, Belgium, Croatia, Poland.