Spain boss Vicente del Bosque singled out Fernando Torres for praise after the striker scored twice in tonight's 4-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland.

The coach hailed the Chelsea forward's contribution to the game, and took the opportunity to defend his tactics in the wake of the match.

"Torres knows how to find the spaces, it was the perfect match," he said. "A lot of people think he could have played in the first match, but that wasn't the point.

"We have a system and we showed it works. People think it is important to have a striker and it is important for us as well, but it is more important to win.

"We have been criticised for using this system, but now we have shown that it works."

Del Bosque continued: "We have 23 players who play regularly for their clubs and we have lots of alternatives, we had 65% possession of the ball.

"I don't think you can keep calm in any competition, but this result takes us forward."

Spain go into their final Euro 2012 group match against Croatia with four points from two games, making them odds-on favourites to reach the next round.