Fernando Torres hailed a "magical evening" in Kyiv after Spain thumped Italy 4-0 in the final of Euro 2012 and he scored a goal to land the tournament's golden boot award.
The Chelsea striker joins an elite list of players who have won the European Cup and the European Championship in the same year.
Torres and club mate Juan Mata, who netted Spain’s fourth goal, became the sixth and seventh to achieve the feat after Luis Suarez with Inter Milan and Spain in 1964 and Hans van Breukelen, Berry van Aerle, Ronald Koeman and Gerald Vanenburg with PSV Eindhoven and Netherlands in 1988.
“You can’t ask for more but it is the work of the team and the togetherness that has brought us here,” Torres told his personal website (www.fernando9torres.com).
“You always want to win more and more but right now we have to enjoy this,” added the 28-year-old. “We have dominated from start to finish and enjoyed a magical evening.”
Spain are the first nation to win back-to-back European Championships with a World Cup in between and under coach Vicente del Bosque have set a new standard in international football.
Torres said Spain had ridden their luck at times during Euro 2012 but were now very much the team to beat.
“Now we can say national teams of the future will concentrate on us to try and make history,” said Torres who also scored the winner in the Euro 2008 final.
“We had luck in some moments of the championship but at the end we will reflect on what it means in Spanish football history.”
