So far in the build-up to Euro 2016, Vicente Del Bosque has evidently been taking to heart his countryman George Santanaya's motto: "He who does not remember the past is doomed to repeat it."
Spain's tournament record had been unblemished for eight years after World Cup 2006 until 2014: win, win, win. Two European titles and champions of the world in South Africa. They were not simply stellar; they were unrivalled. But the defence of that world crown, just two years ago, was a death by a thousand cuts. There were no gigantic aberrations, just a flow of run-of-the-mill decisions that were both wrong and avoidable.