Coach Vicente Del Bosque praised David Silva's man of the match performance after Spain began their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign with a comprehensive 5-1 victory at home to Macedonia on Monday night.
- Corrigan: Silva inspirational but Spain defence weak
Spain opened the scoring early through Sergio Ramos' penalty and had further goals through Paco Alcacer, Sergio Busquets, Silva and Pedro Rodriguez. Macedonia's consolation was also a penalty, converted by Agim Ibraimi.
With La Roja entering the post-Xavi Hernandez era and Andres Iniesta missing injured, it was the Manchester City playmaker who most impressed with an excellently taken strike, clever assist for Pedro's final goal, and general all-around performance full of ideas and creativity.
The veteran coach told reporters at Levante's Ciutat de Valencia ground that Silva had been given more freedom to run the game, and had done just that.
"For sure this one of the games in which [Silva] was most prominent," Del Bosque said. "Silva has used very well the liberty that we gave him and he linked well with the people ahead of him. He has the individual qualities to break open closed up defences."
Del Bosque also had praise for emerging Valencia forward Paco Alcacer, 21, who scored on his first senior start, and looked more suited to playing in Spain's tiki-taka style than Chelsea's Diego Costa [who was missing through injury].
"Alcacer has fulfilled the expectations we had in him," he said. "He scored a goal, his movement was good, and we have made a step forward. We will be watching to see how he develops at his club."
There was cautious encouragement for Madrid-born Barcelona starlet Munir El-Haddadi, who could also play for Morocco because of his family background, having committed to Spain by making his senior competitive debut as a late substitute.
"We put him in as we had to bring up someone from the under-21s [when Costa was injured]," Del Bosque said. "I imagine he also has some feeling for Morocco. But Munir is here as he has chosen freely. We put him on as he was the only [outfield] player on the bench who had not featured this week. For us it is a joy that Munir could make his debut aged 19. Now we must see how he continues with his club."
Overall, Del Bosque said he was content that the result -- and the performance -- showed his side had moved on from their disappointing World Cup last summer.
"We knew we had lost credit at the World Cup, and that we had to recover that," he said. "You do that out on the pitch, trying to play good football. We began the competition with three points and the performance of the team has been good. That was the most important. We lacked continuity at times, but we have taken a step forward. We are beginning a new stage. I hope we go on to more."