Spain dominated world football between 2008 and 2012 – winning two European Championships and a World Cup – but their record at recent major tournaments has been underwhelming.
The team has been dumped out at the last-16 stage at every World Cup and European Championship since 2016, the one exception being their run to the semi-finals at Euro 2020.
Manager Luis de la Fuente took over in 2022 having led the under-21 side to European youth glory in 2019.
He lifted the Nations League title with Spain last year and now believes his young and exciting team are at the top of their game.
“[It was] the best Spain performance [since] I’ve taken charge,” said the 62-year-old.
He added “the sky is the limit” for his side, a feeling shared by many of BBC Sport’s pundits.
“There is no argument that this is the best Spain team I have seen since we beat Italy in the 2012 final,” Balague told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“It is very rare that there is such a big gap between two big teams, very rare.
“This was the perfect performance. It had absolutely everything.”
Premier League winner Sutton said that other teams “won’t want to be facing [Spain] in the knockouts” and that their win over Italy was a “total mismatch”.
Meanwhile, Italy manager Luciano Spalletti said Spain “have played the best football for the longest time now”.