Andres Iniesta did not feature in the contenders for the best player of the 2010 World Cup despite scoring Spain 's winning goal in the final , but the midfielder has been recognized for his country 's historic triumph at Euro 2012 . The 28-year-old Barcelona star is one of 10 Spanish players in UEFA 's 23-man squad , which features four from losing finalists Italy . Iniesta , clubmates Xavi Hernandez and Sergio Buesquets plus Real Madrid 's Xabi Alonso were included in a nine-strong midfield contingent , while David Silva and Cesc Fabregas were named among five forwards despite playing in Spain 's so-called `` no striker '' formation . The Spaniards completely nullified Italy 's midfield general Andrea Pirlo in Sunday 's final , winning 4-0 in Kiev to clinch a third successive major title . Iniesta did not score and had just one assist , but was rewarded for his overall contribution to the merciless Spanish passing machine . At the 2010 World Cup , David Villa was Spain 's only entry in the top three as Uruguay 's Diego Forlan was named best player . `` Pirlo was magnificent and obviously circumstances did n't help him in the final , '' UEFA technical director Andy Roxburgh said . `` Xabi Alonso , Xavi Hernandez and Iniesta were all superb . In the case of Xavi , he won the award last time , and he could easily have won the award again , but we felt that Iniesta deserved it . Is this Spain team the best in football history ? `` In many ways , he symbolized the tournament -- the creative , incisive runner , with and without the ball . We felt that he epitomized a lot of what we saw . '' The squad included only two players not present in the semifinal matches : England captain Steven Gerrard and Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic . `` The players in the squad are those who have contributed in a significant way over the entire tournament , '' said Roxburgh , a former coach of Scotland 's national team . `` Inevitably , the squad is dominated by players from the teams who had the most success -- first of all the team which won the title , Spain , then those players who were in the other top three teams . `` There are other players who could easily have been in the squad , but we restricted ourselves to a set number . The line was drawn at 23 because this was the squad size for the tournament . '' UEFA president Michel Platini hailed the tournament in Poland and Ukraine as a big success , despite earlier fears of problems with racism which -- despite several incidents inside stadiums -- did not escalate as predicted . `` This Euro , the first in the East , has been a resounding success , a real triumph , '' the Frenchman said on UEFA 's website . `` Poland and Ukraine showed the whole world that they can organize this type of event and that they need n't have any concerns . They can be proud of the work they 've done , their enthusiasm and the final results . I 'm proud of them , anyway . '' Platini said the biggest on-pitch success of the tournament was the use of extra match officials behind the goal lines . `` That was the principal innovation on the pitch compared to previous Euro editions , and the system of five referees was a real plus in terms of the football that got played : it helped get rid of simulation in the area and also helped significantly reduce shirt-pulling during set pieces , '' he said . `` In the end , there were more goals and , even more significantly , more headed goals in this Euro than in other big international competitions . That 's no coincidence . The system of five referees acts as a deterrent and the quality of football benefits from that . '' UEFA also raised €228,000 ( $ 285,000 ) for the charity Center for Access to Football in Europe ( CAFE ) after pledging €3,000 for each of the 76 goals scored . Off the field of play , Internet users set a new record for a sporting event on Twitter during Sunday 's final . The social networking site said its total global traffic peaked at 15,358 tweets per second when Juan Mata scored Spain 's fourth goal . The match brought in 16.5 million tweets in total . UEFA 's team of Euro 2012 : . Goalkeepers : Gianluigi Buffon ( Italy ) , Iker Casillas ( Spain ) , Manuel Neuer ( Germany ) . Defenders : Gerard Pique ( Spain ) , Fabio Coentrao ( Portugal ) , Philipp Lahm ( Germany ) , Pepe ( Portugal ) , Sergio Ramos ( Spain ) , Jordi Alba ( Spain ) . Midfielders : Daniele de Rossi ( Italy ) , Steven Gerrard ( England ) , Xavi Hernandez ( Spain ) , Andres Iniesta ( Spain ) , Sami Khedira ( Germany ) , Sergio Busquets ( Spain ) , Mesut Ozil ( Germany ) , Andrea Pirlo ( Italy ) , Xabi Alonso ( Spain ) . Forwards : Mario Balotelli ( Italy ) , Cesc Fabregas ( Spain ) , Cristiano Ronaldo ( Portugal ) , Zlatan Ibrahimovic ( Sweden ) , David Silva ( Spain ) .
Spain midfielder Andres Iniesta named best player of Euro 2012 . Iniesta is one of 10 Spain players in 23-man squad named by UEFA . UEFA president hails tournament in Poland and Ukraine as big success . Sunday 's final registered a record amount of tweets for a sporting event .