If Roy Hodgson can take any encouragement from this game, it is the fact that Italy enjoy as little of the ball as England do when they play Spain.

But the side that will meet England in that opening World Cup encounter in Manaus did seem to cope rather better in the circumstances, despite eventually losing to a 63rd minute strike from Pedro Rodriguez.

If the Italians have an inner chimp, then world champions Spain don’t seem to bring him out of his cage.

Even in the absence of Andrea Pirlo, who was left on the bench by Cesare Prandelli for the first half of this friendly at the Estadio Vicente Calderon, Italy kept their cool.

Prandelli said he wanted to use this opportunity to put other players to the test. And over the course of the first half he would have been pleased with the defensive solidity of a side that, let’s not forget, conceded four goals to this lot in the Euro 2012 final.

Last season’s goalless draw in the semi-final of the Confederations Cup — a game Italy eventually lost on penalties — provided a measure of their improvement, and here last night the emergence of Gabriel Paletta underlined the quality they boast at the back.

At one stage a colleague of Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero in the Argentina youth set-up, Paletta has chosen to exploit the Italian heritage of his grandparents and switch to the Azzurri in the hope of securing a plane ticket to Brazil.

Judging by the way he dealt with Diego Costa — a Brazilian making his debut for Spain last night little more than a year after making his debut for Brazil in a friendly against, er, Italy — he is already half-way there.

Costa might have been left frustrated by his performance, but there was enough evidence of why he might be on Jose Mourinho’s radar.

The prolific Atletico Madrid striker would look good in a Chelsea shirt, with his blend of skill, speed and physical strength.

Dani Osvaldo has strength too, but the controversial Southampton forward currently on loan at Juventus only really displayed that when defending Italy’s goal at corners. Ominously for England, Italy are stronger than what was on show here.

Start with Pirlo and throw in Daniele De Rossi — omitted by Prandelli for thumping an opponent last weekend — and the midfield would sharpen up. As would the front line if Mario Balotelli and Giuseppe Rossi had not been absent with injury.

But Italy remain every bit as classy as the side that comfortably dominated England in the European Championships. A solidity that is further enhanced by the enduring brilliance of Gianluigi Buffon will certainly make them more difficult to score against than Denmark.

Buffon made excellent saves here to deny Pedro and David Silva.

In the end Pedro did make the breakthrough, after the arrival of Silva at the start of the second half provided the hosts with an impetus they had perhaps been missing.

It was the Manchester City midfielder who started the move, with Andres Iniesta then back-heeling into the path of Pedro via a fortuitous bounce off Paletta. Pedro then squeezed his effort under Buffon.

It was no less than Spain deserved. On this evidence they remain the team by which all other international sides should measure themselves, and on this occasion they beat Italy without even asking Xavi Hernandez to take off his tracksuit top. What a comfort that must be for Vicente Del Bosque.

For now, Prandelli will have to take comfort from the fact that he used this game to prove a point about discipline as well as experimentation. There will need to be a rise in standards to beat Spain this summer.

Beating England, however, will be another matter entirely.

—Daily Mail