Unlike their head of state, the country's footballers were unable to leave at a time of their choosing, as Chile followed the Netherlands' example in riding roughshod over the FIFA World Cup holders.
Dumped out of a scintillating tournament that continues to thrill and surprise in equal measure, the inquest into two defeats and seven goals conceded will be hard to bear for a Spain team that made the summit of the world game their home for so long.
It seems a trick of the mind that Kiev's Olympic Stadium witnessed such peerless excellence less than two years ago, but the sands of football shifted as Spain stood still. Their price, an unceremonious humiliation in the sport's spiritual home as they were dumped out of Brazil 2014 at the iconic Maracana with a 2-0 defeat to Group B opponents Chile.
The relentless passing style of 'tiki-taka' became Barcelona’s trademark towards the end of the last decade but, by the time Pep Guardiola began honing the method to perfection, Aragones had shepherded Spain to Europe’s summit using Barca's template.
A midfield nucleus of Xavi and Andres Iniesta tormented teams, dumping them onto a passing "carousel", as Sir Alex Ferguson famously put it after Manchester United were dazzled in the 2009 UEFA Champions League final.
Vicente del Bosque's error at international level was to keep faith with methods that brought success in 2010 and 2012; a religion no longer practiced with conviction.
The Netherlands did to Spain what Bayern did to Barca - Robben again a chief tormentor - in the opening 5-1 humbling at Brazil 2014, but Wednesday's 2-0 loss to Chile was a particularly bitter pill to swallow.
Atletico Madrid midfielder Koke gave his Barcelona counterparts nightmares last season but looked on from Spain’s bench as their torrid times continued. The game was up by the time he appeared for the second half against Chile.
In some respects, as Koke sat flanked by wonderful players, he was the symbol of Spain's fall.
