Andres Iniesta says patient approach paid off for Spain

Andres Iniesta believes the way Spain struggled to break the Czech Republic down is a sign of the respect their opponents had for them.

The reigning champions made an unconvincing start to the defence of their title as they recorded a 1-0 win in Toulouse.

Iniesta provided the assist for his Barcelona team-mate Gerard Pique to score the winner three minutes from the end.

It was undoubtedly a deserved success for Vicente del Bosque's side but they lacked a cutting edge for much of the game.

While they dominated, they also struggled to break the Czechs down - but Iniesta is not concerned by that.

He said: "We're happy to start with three points, we've taken a step forward and now it's on to the next one.

"Nothing makes me happier than ending a game of football healthy and feeling good and ready for the next one.

"That's what it's about, maintaining that for as long as possible. We've got Turkey next (on Friday) and we'll just try to keep going.

"The team has a lot of respect - we've won that - and I like that. I'm going to try to help the team go as far as possible.

"It's true that it's not the first time we've had this kind of game or opponent. It means they have a respect for us.

"There's not a single way of breaking down these teams. You have to be calm and patient and keep going forwards until you get the result you want.

"I'm not a player that's had to do a lot of running without the ball like that but I'm sure that running 90 minutes without the ball is very difficult so it's not easy to go on like that."

It took Spain until their 18th chance of the game to finally go in front and Juventus forward Alvaro Morata was particularly culpable in front of goal.

Del Bosque played down the significance of having so many missed opportunities before his team finally took the lead the merited.

He added: "Winning is obviously important. The first thing is that we got three points and the other is that we had total control of the game.

"Now we have a good passage forward and we want to be as strong as possible. We're obviously more optimistic than if the game had been drawn.

"We created a lot of chances. We hope it's not a problem [finishing them]. We had the game completely under control and that's the important thing.

"It hasn't been too bad for us this style, hey? Everyone wants to score more goals but it hasn't been too bad."