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"We won being true to our playing style, and by moving the ball the way we moved it we knew how to take charge of the match," Casillas said. "What we do is difficult but we make it look easy."
Xavi's Italian counterpart, Andrea Pirlo, failed to orchestrate play as he had done when Germany and England were eliminated from the knockout stages. He looked up with teary red eyes as Spain lifted the trophy.
Sergio Ramos and Xavi already had threatened Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon's goal when Spain took the lead in the 14th minute.
Andres Iniesta's incisive forward pass to find Cesc Fabregas was superb. Fabregas drifted behind defender Giorgio Chiellini and surged to the byline, drawing Buffon to his near post. Silva waited eight yards out to head a crisp chip back from Fabregas into the net.
Spain then increased its lead just 4 minutes before the break, in a move started by Xavi who had been below his usual high standard at Euro 2012.
"I was lacking that deep, incisive pass, and today I had two," said the Barcelona midfielder, who put a weighted pass into Alba's stride as the left-back burst past four Italian defenders to slip his shot past Buffon.
The great Italian goalkeeper also witnessed a master class from his friend Casillas, who was on a winning Spanish side for the 100th time.
Casillas has not conceded a goal in a knockout match since Zinedine Zidane scored for France in the 3-1 win that knocked Spain out of the 2006 World Cup in the second round.
At 1-0, Casillas twice stretched to tip crossed balls to safety, as Daniele De Rossi and then Mario Balotelli seemed poised to head balls goalwards. He also saved two shots from Antonio Cassano before Alba's goal put Spain into its comfort zone.
Italian substitute Antonio Di Natale -- who scored the only goal Spain conceded here, in a 1-1 draw to open its Group C campaign -- quickly forced Casillas into a double save when released into space by Pirlo's clever pass.
However, Motta lasted just a few minutes before he appeared to pull his right hamstring and left in obvious pain.
Spain cruised through the second half, to cries of "Ole" from its fans, before inflicting further agony on Italy.
Xavi found Torres, who slid his shot past Buffon and inside the far post in the 84th minute. Minutes later, Juan Mata came off the bench like Torres, and took his Chelsea teammate's pass to score into an Italian goal left unguarded by Buffon yet again. It was his first shot of the tournament, and Spain's final goal.
"Tonight, there was no contest, they were too superior -- so the bitterness at losing this final is only relative," Buffon said.
[Associated Press;
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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