• Xavi says there are no regrets about Croatia game
• Midfielder disputes Spain's boring tag
The Euro 2012 final pitches Spain up against the team they could have conspired to knock out earlier in the tournament. But the midfielder Xavi Hernández insisted that there would be no regrets, even if Spain fail to beat Italy. The midfielder instead expressed his satisfaction at the chance to face Andrea Pirlo, a man for whom he has long professed admiration, and dismissed suggestions that Spain are boring and that Italy are proponents of catenaccio.
If Spain and Croatia had drawn 2-2 in the final game of Group C, Italy would have been powerless to prevent their elimination. But rather remove a dangerous rival from their path, Spain defeated Croatia 1-0. Now they must close the tournament against the same side they opened it with, the only one to have scored against them.
Sitting alongside the Spain captain Iker Casillas, with whom he has played international football since the age of 15, winning the 1999 World Youth Championships, Xavi said: "Lots of people talked about the [2-2] draw but as the manager said, we never regret playing to win. We would never have thought of [reaching a pact to draw] and we will not think that even if we lose. If you had said to us back then [1999] that we would win all of this," Xavi added, "we would not have believed you. To have achieved so much, not just at senior level but junior level too, to see a generation of fantastic footballers and make history is wonderful. It's boring for people that we always win? For us it's ideal. Our football does not bore us; it has given us a lot of success."
Spain's golden generation has been led by these two players but it did not always seem that way. In an interview with The Guardian in 2011, Xavi admitted he had felt like a player in danger of extinction as the game turned increasingly physical. The year 2008 proved a definitive turning point. There are certain parallels with Pirlo. Released by Milan, he led Juventus to the league title this season and has been the outstanding player at this tournament, playing the kind of football that Xavi identifies with.
"I feel very lucky," Xavi said. "A few years ago there was a tendency towards a more physical game, a game that was more defensive and more speculative. We have been lucky that players who were perhaps weaker physically have come through and now there is more of a trend towards playing a game that is more open, prettier, happier. That has been good for me and it has been good for Pirlo. The majority of our players and the Italian players fit that type of game.
"Italy are not the famous catenaccio of the past. One of the keys to this final will be the possession of the ball and that is something both teams want. They have a great team." Read More
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