Vicente del Bosque was a happy man after Spain beat Belgium to end a perfect first phase of their World Cup qualifying.

Having won their opening three matches in Group Five without too much trouble, Spain found themselves in a real battle on Wednesday night but managed to come through triumphant with a 2-1 victory.

That win left Spain on 12 points, four clear at the top of Group Five and, with their next qualifier now not coming until the end of March when they host Turkey, the European champions can now take a break and reflect on a job well done.

"There are still many points left to play for, but this victory has moved us a fair bit closer to the objective," said Del Bosque, whose team are one of only two sides to have won all four of their qualifiers so far, along with England.

"Now there remains some time until the official games of March take place, which the players can dedicate to their teams.

"We have completed our obligation."

The former Real Madrid coach admits it was far from from easy against Belgium though, especially after conceding a goal just seven minutes in when Wesley Sonck headed in his fifth goal of qualifying.

That was the first goal Spain had conceded in 717 minutes of action as Iker Casillas and his back-up keeper Jose Reina smashed the national record set by former stoppers Andoni Zubizarreta and Paco Buyo.

Spain then lost striker Fernando Torres to injury and at that stage it looked as the Iberian nation's 26-match unbeaten run could be at threat.

However, the European champions bounced back in style, equalising through Andres Iniesta's brilliant goal in the 36th minute before going on to snatch all three points when David Villa headed home the winning goal two minutes from time.

"It was very difficult because Belgium are a great team, but I have to congratulate my players because went for the game. It could be said that we got some fortune at the end, but we were looking for the win," Del Bosque said.

"We showed that we were a team. We have players of great ability, capable of doing what Iniesta did and others with character and energy such as (Carles) Puyol, who saved us from a lot of problems here. It's a good mix of players."

One negative for Spain was the loss of Torres, who suffered what appeared to be a hamstring injury early on and had to be substituted after just 17 minutes.

Depending on the severity of the problem, the Liverpool striker could miss next week's Champions League return to former club Atletico Madrid.

Del Bosque said: "I'm very sad for him. The player is affected and me as well."

Torres' Liverpool team-mates Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa also lamented the injury.

Alonso said: "For us it is doubly bad news, for the national team and for Liverpool.

"We will see what the tests that he has to have say, but until Christmas we don't stop, we have a fixture list with key games like against Atletico Madrid and Chelsea and could have done without this.

"It's a real pain that the injury comes at a time when he was in very good form, in a good goalscoring run."

Arbeloa added in Marca: "We've seen that he's upset because it's a new muscle injury at a key time. He was eager to play against Atletico Madrid.

"We hope that in the end it will be nothing serious and he can play again soon because for Liverpool his loss is very important."