Spain with better players and much more fresh athletically, the Spanish midfield pack, when in good shape, is a nightmare for everybody.
Italy with several players on their knees or not recovered from injuries. One of them (Chiellini) was a calculated risk of the coach, a bet that proved wrong (he was at half-speed on the first spanish goal and had to leave the field immediately after)
At this point Italy should had defended the 0-1 (yes, sometimes you have to defend the loss...) by locking in defense and let Spain make the game, hoping to recover the gap in athletic freshness letting Spain running more than them and try to recover the game later (a bit like the tactics that Portugal did or Chelsea played with Barcelona)
Instead, they tried to attack and play football: brave behavior but totally suicidal in that match and with such opponents.
Spain was too happy to build a dam in their 3/4 and restart with lethal counterattacks, and since they are good soccer players they placed one that was totally irresistible: 2-0 and end of the story.
On beginning 2nd half, italy missed the chance to reopen the match, then another injury left the team in 10 and the match became just target practice.
Apart from injuries and tireness, the better team won.
And again, this is the beauty of football: wednesday Spain played badly and risked to be eliminated by Portugal (who is a decent team but not on par with Italy, Germany or Spain), yesterday the same team played as if they were coming from Mars.
Case Balotelli: I always joked on him calling him 'psycho'. In effect the guy has great football talents, but is totally immature in his head. At least this time he did not behave too badly and did not get some red card, maybe there is hope for the future.
If he will mature he will become a great player, if he stays like this he will disappear in a couple of years.