The world and European champions took until the 84th minute to break through a miserly China defence in Sevilla on Sunday, with David Silva on target from Andreas Iniesta's cutback in a 1-0 win.

Despite an improved performance after the break having introduced four substitutes, del Bosque was unhappy with Spain's last outing before kicking off their Euro 2012 campaign against Italy on June 10.

"We were slower than usual, they left us little space and we were sluggish," del Bosque said.

"But we knew China would be a strong rival in the fight for the ball, but they not only have defended well, they also fought back (on the counter-attack).

"But, in the second half, we played with more people in attack and they (China) were more wary."

Del Bosque brought on Fernando Torres, Iniesta, Victor Valdes and Jesus Navas after half-time among six changes, and said he was particularly pleased with his Barcelona stars.

"I am very pleased with (Gerard) Pique, Xavi, Iniesta and especially (Sergio) Busquets."

Despite the loss, China coach Jose Camacho said he was happy with the result and the way his team performed against the world champions.

"Our players were very motivated for this match because we were being watched by the whole world," he said.

"Right now there is a lot of motivation in China to be successful in football and they knew that this was a good platform for that.

"I think we had a good first half and in the second half Spain were superior.

"We were tactically strong and with some changes that we made in the second half, bringing on people that hadn't played a lot, we could see there was a difference and Spain took control.

"This was a tough match against the world champion and in general I'm happy with the result."