Spain hero Ferran Torres believes “destiny was written” for he and his side after scoring the winning goal in the World Cup final.
Torres powered home in extra time to give Spain a deserved victory having dominated the deciding contest with Argentina, with the nation securing a second World Cup crown.
Luis de la Fuente’s side are the reigning European champions and looked the most complete team throughout the tournament, with their manager admitting afterwards that they probably should have won the final sooner.
It took until the 106th minute for Spain to finally take the lead, with Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez producing a string of fine saves.
He was powerless to stop Torres’ blast from close range, though, as the Barcelona forward converted Nico Williams’ header to secure a 1-0 win.
““I think in the end the goal came from 47m people [approximately the population of Spain], not just those of us that are here,” Torres said.
“Today destiny was written, it was made for us to win. We’re far from our people today but we tried to be as close as possible to them.
“Finals are hard. When you have [Lionel] Messi on the opposing team, you do get worried but we always backed ourselves and tried to show our football and I think we managed to do it once again.”
Argentina were reduced to ten men just before extra time began with Enzo Fernandez dismissed for a second bookable offence after clattering into Pau Cubarsi.
The South Americans defended resolutely thereafter, but failed to create consistent chances against a Spanish defence that had proved strong across the World Cup.
“The match should have been decided much earlier,” De la Fuente admitted. “But this is a World Cup final and you have to dig deep even against ten men, and we’re prepared for anything.
““We had a game plan where the first idea was to keep Messi at bay but also other players away from our goal. Something very important was the attitude of our players. We were convinced it was our final and we wanted to go all out for this final. If it wasn’t for their keeper we might’ve had a larger win.”
Spain are also the holders of the Women’s World Cup, with De la Fuente’s side success continuing a golden period for the nation’s footballers.
