EURO 2012: We know how to beat Spain – Claudio Marchisio

Ahead of Sunday’s Euro 2012 final between Italy and Spain, Italian midfielder Claudio Marchisio has insisted that his team know how to beat Spain.

The two sides opened their campaign in Poland and Ukraine against each other with a 1-1 draw and the Juventus man believes that match stands Italy in good stead.

“Spain are an extremely strong team,” Marchisio told Goal.com. “But we already faced them in the group stage and we know how to beat them, I will not say how, but you’ll see on the pitch.”

Cesare Prandelli’s men have surprised some by making the final and Marchisio believes that pre-tournament doubts only served to make the squad more determined to succeed.

“I think nobody expected us to play as we have done. We were strongly criticised before the tournament, after losing to Russia, and after that even in the tournament when we drew against Croatia,” he said.

“What we were asking was that there was a balance in the press coverage of our team, we knew that all was not well, but we wanted the people to trust us.
“But that also served to unite the group in this tournament and that was in the end the great strength of this team and since then we have transformed these criticisms into praise.”