Spain’s most telling moment of their Euro 2016 Round of 16 match against Italy arrived after 88 minutes when midfielder Sergio Busquets received a booking from referee Cuneyt Cakir. In the later stages of the game, the Turk had failed to control the game. The Spanish players surrounded him in trifling aggravation – another indication of how rattled and disjointed Spain had been.

The Italians had been dominant and domineering from the onset and never relinquished their grip on the match – against type, abandoning their cautious nature and flocking forward in transition. With a sense of exaggeration, this was "Tikitalia" – the utmost irony of Italia ousting Spain in style at a major tournament.

Reverting to old values

Strictly speaking, Italy defeated Spain by reverting to their old values. In 2008, Italy’s quarter-final exit against Spain at the European Championship sparked a period of introspection and soul-searching for the Italians. Voices rose, advocating for a Spanish-ation of the game.

Coach Cesare Prandelli did so and Italy, unexpectedly, reached the final of Euro 2012 when, again, Spain were too good. Yet, the result was a cause for optimism: Italy’s modernisation seemed a fait accompli, but then the Squadra Azzurra crashed out in the first round of the 2014 World Cup in a group with England, Costa Rica and Uruguay.

‘Spanish-ation’ hadn’t worked. Defender Giorgio Chiellini almost called it a betrayal of Italian football, a period wherein the strengths of Italian football had been neglected and, in the end, abandoned. The appointment of Antonio Conte was an anti-reaction of Spanish-ation: football needed to be played the Italian way again, with collective discipline at the forefront.

Italy, with supposedly the worst generation immemorial, were very Italian against Belgium and put in a superb repeat performance against Spain. In the second half, they regressed and Spain searched for a crumple point. Both Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique forced Gianluigi Buffon into fine saves. The 38-year-old also saved brilliantly in the last minute from Gerard Pique’s volley, as Spain threatened with the long ball and a central defender, the anti-thesis of their own game.

Rudderless Spain

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On the touchline, Del Bosque watched on, powerlessly. Spain had no back-up plan to their 4-3-3 formation, once the origin of astute triangulation and refined geometry, piercing opposing lines and inflicting defeat with incessant passing sequences. They were rudderless.

The symptoms had first appeared at the Brazil World Cup. The Spanish armada suffered a crushing 5-1 defeat against Robin Van Persie and the Netherlands. They had aged and were lax in their application. The dynamic midfield trio of Sergio Busquets, Xabi Alonso and Xavi was overrun and outclassed.

Xavi’s post World Cup retirement left a vacuum, one Spain struggled to fill. The fulcrum wasn’t replaceable. Yet, at the European Championship, Iniesta, at last, deployed his audacious skills and vision to lead Spain, or so it seemed during the group stages. He poked and probed his opponents and split defenses. Iniesta stamped his authority on Spain’s game, with the approval of his teammates.

Failed resurgence

But that sheen of renewed Spanish dominance faded quickly against Italy. In the build-up to the game, Xavi had pointed out how hard Spain finds it to play against 3-5-2, remembering the defeats to the Netherlands and Chile at the last World Cup. “When Italy need to come out with the ball, having three at the back and two wide players means they have five possible people to carry it out, which makes it difficult for Spain to press as they would like,” he said.

Italy overwhelmed Spain on the wings and, in the midfield, Busquets barely touched the ball, slumping under Italy’s pinpoint pressing. Iniesta, Spain’s other midfield lynchpin, was mostly invisible. A 4-3-3 was suicidal against Italy’s formation, which became a 4-4-2 when out of possession.

Off late, Spanish-ation influenced football profoundly, but the approach is over its peak, even for the founding fathers. Spain are still good, but not great anymore. The defeat marks the end of a generation – the Xavis and Iniestas, whose football was often a portrayal of fine art and induced ecstasy – but not the end of an era, per se.

Spain played with seven veterans of the Euro 2012 final. Del Bosque waited too long to hone the next generation. From Spain’s U19 European Championship wins in 2011 and 2013 respectively, only left-back Hector Bellerin from Arsenal and striker Alvaro Morata from Juventus progressed to the A-team. Del Bosque’s successor has to consciously look at Spain’s younger players, but that doesn't necessarily render 4-3-3 and infinite ball possession redundant.