SPAIN FORWARD FERRAN Torres said “destiny was written” after firing his country to World Cup glory against Argentina.

Substitute Torres struck in the 106th minute to earn a 1-0 extra-time win over the defending champions in New Jersey.

“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 said, speaking to FIFA host broadcasters in the mixed zone after 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.”

Faltering Argentina failed to muster a shot in the initial 90 minutes and were reduced to 10 men just before extra time when midfielder Enzo Fernandez was shown a second yellow card.

After the heroics of goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez had kept dominant Spain at bay, Barcelona player Torres claimed an opportune moment to register his first goal of the competition.

“A huge relief (to score),” he said. “I’ve been criticised throughout the whole tournament but, as I said before, destiny was written.

“Thanks to God, he always gives me the strength to continue and in the end he grants things to those that most deserve them.”

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni admitted to a feeling of “sadness” but expressed pride in his players who “left everything out there”.

“They (Spain) were better, that’s the truth,” he said. “But I’ll hold on to an enormous memory of what they’ve done, of what it’s worth to get this far.

“We’re great in victory and we have to be great in defeat. Today we’re showing that we know how to lose. We lost the match and we’re owning it.

“But that doesn’t mean we’ll stop remembering everything we did to get here.”