Vicente del Bosque says Spain can make history

guardian.co.uk by Daniel Taylor

Vicente del Bosque, the Spain manager, said his side were "looking to create history" after eliminating Portugal from the World Cup with a 1-0 victory last night. David Villa's 63rd-minute winner was enough to put Spain, who have never reached the semi-finals, through to the last eight, where they face Paraguay on Saturday, having snuffed out the threat of Portugal's dangerman Cristiano Ronaldo.

"We know we are playing well and now we want to create a bit of history," Del Bosque said. "It is very difficult to focus on Ronaldo and try to neutralise his game because we all know he can switch from left to right and also go in the middle. We all know his ability. But every time he came into an attacking area we stopped him. Portugal are a good side on the attack but we had very good defenders who did a fantastic job stopping them."

Villa now has four goals but his prolific form is in stark comparison to Fernando Torres, who was substituted after 59 minutes. "David had a great game in all aspects," Del Bosque said. "He is very used to attacking, moving towards the goal but he also helped out defensively and it was extremely effective how he helped all over the pitch."

The match ended on a sour note for Portugal, with Ricardo Costa sent off for an alleged elbow offence and Ronaldo appearing to spit roughly in the direction of a television cameraman who was following him off the pitch.

Carlos Queiroz, the Portuguese manager, also faced questions about his decision to appoint Ronaldo as the team's captain. "Ronaldo is our leader, our captain, and this decision belongs to the federation and national coach, so I think that question is out of order. We chose him for the right reasons."

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