JWSport Jacek Waszak – Sport journalist
I have been watching since the beginning of the matches of the European football championship Euro 2020 and we have very many surprises in every match here everyone can play for the grand final at the Wambley . So it has become obvious we have entered the most important phase of the game which is the semi-finals to the final of the European Football Championship , and around the corner the finals in London at Wembley await us. Who will play in these finals probably everyone is already asking themselves this question. Whether the Danes will join the finals or the English will be the lucky ones and play against Italy at Wembley.
Both national teams before this meeting had a score to settle with each other.
At Euro 2016, the Italians had already edged out Spain in the 1/8 final, while four years earlier (2012) it was the Spanish who came out on top in the final of the tournament and won the European Championship.
Spain became the first team in history to defend the European Championship title. It also became the first team in history to win three tournaments in a row (they won the World Cup in 2010).
The Italians, who played a superb quarter-final game, won 2-1 against Belgium, while the Spanish, on the other hand, were held to a 1-1 draw by Switzerland at the same stage of the tournament, only to be beaten on penalties 3-1 before Mikel Oyarzabal put Spain ahead.
Both teams were cautious in the first half. The Spaniards were more often on the ball, something that manager Luis Enrique was particularly keen on. And it was they who made the first dangerous move in the 13th minute: Pedri made a great pass to Mikel Oyarzabal, who was in a clean position, but the Basque miscued the ball and wasted the chance.
There was good action, but Pedri’s pass to Alba was too strong in the 16th minute and the Barcelona defender did not reach it before it left the pitch, and it could have been the first goal.
The action in the 21st minute but what an opportunity for the Italians. Emerson made an individual pass to Insigne, Immobile, Simon came out of the gate, the Italian striker passed the ball to Nicolo Barelli, but the Italian midfielder lost the ball at the crucial moment. A great intervention by Busquets!
In the 25th minute, Dani Olmo shot from the penalty area, but too weakly to surprise Gianluigi Donnarumma.
And in the 33rd minute, Olmo took a good long-range shot, but the ball flew very high over the goal.
And in the 34th minute a great action of the Italians, Insigne played to Immobile, he played back, but the Napoli winger failed to keep the ball in the field. He will start from his own goal Simon.
40th minute pass from the middle to the right side of the penalty area and Oyarzabal fatally struck. The ball landed somewhere on the second floor of the London Stadium stands.
The first goal of the game came in the second half in the 60th minute. Even before that, Jordi Alba had threateningly passed into the penalty area. However, Donnarumma threw the ball inside, three passes were enough and Immobile, who was losing the ball, left the ball to Federico Chiesa, who fired a powerful shot from about 14 metres out of defence at the far post! The Italians in the lead, although the Spaniards had been the dominant side for an hour.
For this, in the 68th minute, Berardi had a hundred percent situation after a phenomenal action and pass by Chiesa unused! The Sassuolo winger struck too lightly and Simon easily defended with his legs!
77th minute finally the Spaniards accelerated, Morata got a great ball into the penalty area, but only won a corner.
The rapid action of the Spaniards allowed to keep the chances! In the 80th minute, Alvaro Morata
came out of his stupor, played to Dani Olmo, who focused the attention of the defenders, but quickly
played perpendicular to the striker. Morata was left to finalise the action in the simplest of situations!
The Spaniards had the upper hand in extra time. The best opportunity came in the 98th minute, when Olmo took a direct shot from a free kick and Morata tried to put the ball into the net after it had been deflected by Donnarumma.
It was an interesting game, but nothing came of it, and the 30 minutes of extra time did not change the result, so the penalty shootout had to be the winner.
Unai Simon defended the eleventh goal of Manuel Locatelli, so the competition started for the Italians
not well. However, the Spaniards started even worse as they could have had mental comfort. Unfortunately for them, Dani Olmo also missed and sent the ball into the stands.
At the 3:2 mark, Alvaro Morata struck lightly and predictably, so Donnarumma defended the strike. Jorginho gave Italy the final in phenomenal style, Italy withstood the war of nerves, stress as the first did not score a penalty, but they are the ones in the Grand Final at the Wembley because it could have been all double.
Italy – Spain: Euro 2020 semi-final match 1/2 final: Italy – Spain 1:1 after extra time was already 1:1, and the result at the break was only 0:0, but in the penalty kicks happened a lot of what emotions, stress, nerves accompanied us in this match how many missed penalties, and at the end anyway won the Italians 4-2.
Italy – Spain 1:1 after extra time (1:1, 0:0), penalty shootout 4-2.
Goals: 1:0 Federico Chiesa (60), 1:1 Alvaro Morata (80).
Yellow card – Italy: Rafael Toloi, Leonardo Bonucci. Spain: Sergio Busquets.
Referee: Felix Brych (Germany). 57,811 spectators.
Italy : Gianluigi Donnarumma – Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Emerson (74. Rafael Toloi) – Nicolo Barella (85. Manuel Locatelli), Jorginho, Marco Verratti (74. Matteo Pessina) – Federico Chiesa (107. Federico Bernardeschi), Ciro Immobile (61. Domenico Berardi), Lorenzo Insigne (85. Andrea Belotti).
Spain: Unai Simon – Cesar Azpilicueta (85. Marcos Llorente), Eric Garcia (109. Pau Torres), Aymeric Laporte, Jordi Alba – Koke (70. Rodri Hernandez), Sergio Busquets (106. Thiago Alcantara), Pedri Gonzalez – Ferran Torres (62. Alvaro Morata), Mikel Oyarzabal (70. Gerard Moreno), Dani Olmo.
