Italy 1 v 1 Spain

Italy won 4-2 on penalties

Tuesday 8th July 2021, Kick-off 20.00
Euro 2020 Semi-Final

Wembley Stadium, London

Admission: €85.00 (£73.26)

Programme: £10.00

Attendance: 57,811

Before the Euro 2020 finals, I had assumed there would be little prospect of obtaining any tickets for any of the games. Well, in the end, this evening would be my third, having already watched the Round of 16 games between Italy and Austria, and then England against Germany. I have been keeping a very regularly look on the UEFA ticketing portal, but was largely put off the notion of paying between €195 and €595 for a ticket. However, on Sunday some “Fans First” tickets became available for a much more reasonable €85.00, which sealed the deal for me. I was very tempted to hold out to see if any tickets would become available for the England - Denmark semi-final the following evening would become available, but it proved that I was wise not to, as I certainly did not come across any tickets becoming available.

After I watched Italy edge past Austria - a game in which Austria were the better team for most of the second half and had a goal ruled out for offside, but Italy's greater squad depth helped them win the game in extra time, they then beat the number one ranked Belgium 2-1 in the quarter finals. It's probably fair to say that Spain are not the team they were a few years ago, and they started this tournament slowly, drawing 0-0 against Sweden and then 1-1 against Poland, before winning their final group game 5-0 against Slovakia to seal progression. In the round of 16, they beat Croatia 5-3 in a thrilling match, before edging past Switzerland on penalties in the quarter finals.

Almost identically to my visit last Tuesday for the England - Germany game, quite heavy rain would arrive in between the initial covid and ticket checks outside of the ground and entering the stadium itself, and my seat was located just a couple of rows and about a dozen seats away from where I was seated for that game. The first half was played at a very high tempo, and was finely balanced thoughout, although it was Spain who enjoyed the majority of the possession. On 4 minutes, Italy's Nicolo Barella saw a shot come back off the post, although the flag was raised for offside anyway. On 12 minutes, Spain's Pedri passed the ball into Oyarzabal 's feet 10 yards out, but he couldn't control the ball to get a shot away before a defender nicked the ball away. Italy then had a great chance on 19 minutes when Emerson just beat the Spanish keeper Unai Simon to the ball at the outer corner of the area, passed the ball to Immobile, but with the keeper out of position, neither he nor Barella could get a shot away before being crowded out by covering defenders. On 24 minutes, it was Spain's turn to have a good chance following a poor kick out by Italy keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma straight to the feet of Sergio Busquets, and the ball was worked into the area before Olmo forced a good save from Donnarumma to turn the ball wide. It was Italy who had the final chance fot the half, after Insigne drove into the outer corner of the area before laying the ball off for Emerson, whose fierce shot from a fairly tight angle came back off the bar.

Into the second half and after both sides came close to opening the scoring around 50 minutes, it was Italy who took the lead through Federico Chiesa following a quick counter from the back, bending a lovely shot from behind a couple of defenders, across the keeper and inside the far post. That was rather against the run of play, but Spain should really have equalised on 64 minutes when Koke dinked a lovely ball from just outside the box, over the defence for Oyarzabal who inexplicable missed the ball as he attempted it home from 8 yards out. But on 80 minutes, Spain finally did manage to put the ball in the net, when following a quick drive forward from the half way line, Alvaro Morata played a one two with Dani Almo, before stroking the ball low inside the post. No doubt that it was the least that Spain deserved, and with no further goals in the remaining ten minutes, the game headed into extra time.

Eight minutes into added on time, a Spanish free kick was played into the box and after the ball pinged around the penalty area, the ball eventually rebounded off Busquets and dribbled just wide of the post. But the further the game went into extra time, the scrappier the game finally became, tiredness no doubt a factor, and in the end a game of immense quality between two teams of fascinatingly contrasting styles had to be decided by the lottery of a penalty shoot out.

Italy took the first penalty, and Manuel Locatelli saw his saved low to the keeper's right, only for Spain's Dani Olmo to send his over the bar. Andrea Belotti scored his low powerfully into the bottom right corner, beating the keeper's dive, and Gerard Moreno scored his, chipping the ball over the diving keeper. Leonardo Bonucci and Thiago both converted those, to leave the score at 2-2 after 3 penalties each. Federico Bernardschi scored Italy's fourth, but Alvaro Morato went from hero to zero when he saw his low penalty saved to the keeper's left. That left the pressure on Jorginho to win the tie for Italy, but with amazing calmness, he rolled the ball inside the right post, to send Italy into the final, where they would play England or Denmark at Wembley on Sunday evening. It was very harsh on Spain, who dominated possession for long spells, playing some lovely football in the process, but converting good play into goals has haunted them throughout this tournament, and fatally this evening. Italy played their part too in a fantastic game of football, and they do seem very apt at soaking up pressure and winning games of football. Interesting though, was that when I watched the in the Round of 16 tie against Austria, Austria really should have won, and yet they would go on to eventually lift the cup, beating England on penalties in the final.