ITALY 1-1 SPAIN (Italy win 4-2 on penalties)
- Goals: Federico Chiesa (€7.4m) | Alvaro Morata (€9.2m)
- Assists: Dani Olmo (€7.4m)
Italy snuck into the final of EURO 2020 after a penalty-shootout victory over a Spain side that may feel aggrieved at the final result.
“It was a tough match, Spain were great tonight but we come back here on 11 July for the final. We will see, we will see. Spain were great, they have star players but we fought until the end and we did it.” – Federico Chiesa
Over the 120 minutes, Spain racked up more than double Italy’s ‘expected goals’ tally and twice their total attempts.
Federico Chiesa (€7.4m) will be on Fantasy managers’ watchlists after his goal, the opening strike in Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw.
Alvaro Morata (€9.2m) levelled the score for Spain with 10 minutes remaining but failed to convert from the penalty spot during the shootout.
After a first half dominated by Spain, it was Italy who made the breakthrough in the 61st minute.
A swift counter-attack saw Lorenzo Insigne (€8.7m) attempt a through pass to Ciro Immobile (€10.2m) but the blocked ball ended up with Chiesa.
The Juventus winger composed himself before firing a sweet strike into the far side of Unai Simon’s net.
Substitute Morata levelled matters for Spain 20 minutes later. He exchanged passes with Dani Olmo (€7.4m) before the midfielder slipped him in behind the Italy defence.
Morata made no mistake from close range as he finished with his left foot past Gianluigi Donnarumma (€5.8m).
That goal came immediately after another substitute, Domenico Berardi (€6.3m), had a good opportunity at the other end to put Italy 2-0 up.
While Spain failed to make the most of their chances, Italy hung on tight to bring the match to penalties and advance to the final to meet either Denmark or England.
Italy XI (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Emerson (Toloi 73′), Chiellini, Bonucci, Di Lorenzo; Verratti (Pessina 72′), Jorginho, Barella (Locatelli 84′); Insigne (Belotti 84′), Immobile (Berardi 61′), Chiesa (Bernardeschi 106′).
Spain XI (4-3-3): Simon; Alba, Laporte, Garcia (P Torres 108′), Azpilicueta (M Llorente 84′); Pedri, Busquets (Thiago 105′), Koke (Rodri 69′); F Torres (Morata 62′), Olmo, Oyarzabal (Moreno 69′).
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Italy gave up plenty of opportunities over the 120 minutes, allowing Spain seven shots inside the box and three big chances.
The Azzurri had only conceded four of these gilt-edged opportunities in the whole of EURO 2020 before Tuesday’s game.
From a defensive perspective, it’s now three matches without a clean sheet for Roberto Mancini’s side.
At the other end, it is also proving difficult to second-guess where the points are coming from: five Italy players are tied on two goals, while five are also level on two assists.
2 years, 9 months ago
Its coming home