Del Bosque salutes Spain's staying power

Spain were magnanimous in victory following their 3-2 UEFA EURO 2012 Group I success against Scotland at Hampden Park with Vicente del Bosque mixing admiration for the home side's stirring fightback with pride after his team converted a difficult situation into three vital points.

The coach, who won his second UEFA Champions League winners' medal at the same stadium with Real Madrid CF eight years ago, told UEFA.com: "This was a game full of emotion and tension, and I respect the fact that when it was 2-0 to us and it looked like the contest was totally under control, Scotland didn't shrivel under pressure. They kept believing and showed faith in themselves, but Spain just had that cutting edge to finally kill the game off."

Initially, it seemed Del Bosque's decision to replace striker Fernando Llorente, despite two superb goals against Lithuania in the last match, would pay dividends. David Villa's penalty allowed him to equal Raúl González's record of 44 Spain goals and Andrés Iniesta added a second. However, Steven Naismith's first international strike and Gerard Piqué's own goal changed the picture, the scene set for Llorente to enter, score his fourth goal in three international games and win the match.

"I wasn't so surprised to be dropped; the final training session on Monday showed me that might be about to happen," Llorente told UEFA.com. "However, I must say that it looked at first as if the coach had picked the right side. Everything was going well and it was only when we were 2-0 up that we perhaps got a little too confident and made some small errors."

In such circumstances, Santi Cazorla believed Del Bosque's decision to bring on Llorente was a masterstroke. "We showed that this team doesn't know how to surrender," the Villarreal CF midfielder told UEFA.com. "Scotland pulled it back to 2-2 and it made things very tense indeed, but the manager put on Fernando. Not only did he score the winner but his arrival changed the game."

Naismith's disappointment, meanwhile, was tinged with pride. "It doesn't get much better than scoring your first goal against the best team in the world," he told UEFA.com. "They're a class above everyone else in the way they move the ball about. Our fans helped to intimidate them a wee bit but on the whole they're a great side and would take some beating."

"We took nothing from the match in terms of points but in terms of spirit and performance we gave it our all," defender David Weir told UEFA.com, with the 40-year-old adding: "We've still got a chance [of qualifying]. We've made it difficult for ourselves but there's still a lot of big games and points left to play for."