Spain coach Vicente del Bosque admitted relief after their 1-0 win in Georgia last night.

Spain needed an 86th minute winner from Valencia striker Roberto Soldado to kickoff their World Cup defence with a victory.

Del Bosque told the Spanish Football Federation's website: "I want to congratulate Georgia for their extraordinary performance. They put us in a lot of difficulty with their enthusiasm and their ability to defend all our attacks through both the centre and the wings.

"In this sense, it was not an easy match and they made it difficult for us, but we won three important points.

"We knew they would be organised, defend well and that they have options up front with strength that we had to be careful of. It wasn't through courtesy that I spoke about them being a strong rival beforehand.

"The differences in football are getting smaller every day. We have to play a qualification campaign and we can't think about anything other than just qualifying."