'Destiny Was Written,' Spain's Ferran Torres Discusses World Cup-Winning Goal vs. Messi, Argentina

Ferran Torres scored the game-winning goal in extra time during Spain's 1-0 win over Argentina at Sunday's World Cup final, and afterwards spoke about what the goal meant for himself and his country.

"I think in the end the goal came from 47 million people [approximately the population of Spain], not just those of us that are here," he told FIFA broadcasters following the match. "Today destiny was written, it was made for us to win. We're far from our people today but we tried to be as close as possible to them. Finals are hard. When you have [Lionel] Messi on the opposing team you do get worried but we always backed ourselves and tried to show our football and I think we managed to do it once again."

It was a deserved win for Spain, which completely dominated the match despite managing only the one goal. Argentina defended well, to their credit, but Spain had complete control over the match and held their opponent to no shots until the second period of extra time, a wild stat.

Torres was a bit of an unlikely hero. He only started one game for Spain at the World Cup and had no goals and one assist before Sunday. But it was the substitutions of Torres and Nico Williams that finally led to the breakthrough, with the lively Williams providing a headed assist on the moment of destiny.