The home side appeared to be on their way to an unlikely draw until Roberto Soldado's late goal helped the reigning champions to all three points in their first 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier.

"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," Del Bosque told the FIFA website.

"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."

Spain's next qualifier is a clash away to Belarus on October 12.