Spain must believe in win – Del Bosque

Vicente del Bosque insists expectation levels for Spain have not been lowered and the only focus for his side is to win the European Championships this summer for a third consecutive time.

Spain won the 2008 and 2012 editions of the major tournament while they also managed to lift the 2010 World Cup in what was a trophy-laden period for the country.

Another strong showing was expected in Brazil two years ago in the World Cup, but a group-stage exit came as a shock following defeats to Chile and the Netherlands.

Del Bosque decided to stick with the national team, though, and he almost guided his side to a perfect qualifying campaign for Euro 2016, recording nine wins and suffering just one defeat.

However, preparations for the tournament have been mixed and there are doubts whether La Roja, who are 5.50 joint-second favourites with Germany to win the title, can go all the way again.

Good friendly wins have been picked up against England and Bosnia but there have also been some disappointing results, none more than the 1-0 defeat to Georgia on Tuesday in their final warm-up match. Del Bosque is not letting the result dampen the spirits, though, and insists the goal is to lift the trophy once again.

“We shouldn’t set any limits,” he said. “We can’t say if we get to the semi-finals we will be happy, we need to aspire to win it. This is sport and we don’t know how far we’ll go, but we need to maintain the dream to fight for a third consecutive Euro title.”

Spain open their campaign on June 13 against the Czech Republic and the defending champions are 1.44 favourites to win, a draw is priced at 4.00 while Pavel Vrba’s men are 8.00 outsiders.