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The three-time champions of Europe, Spain, and the winners of the 1968 European Championship, Italy, will cross swords in the first semi-final of the UEFA European Championship on Tuesday at Wembley.
Italy and Spain have had contrasting campaigns so far. The Azzurri’s journey to the semi-finals has been pretty smooth, while La Roja have encountered numerous hurdles on their path, but have managed to successfully evade them. Interestingly, both the teams have proved their critics wrong in this competition.
From the four teams still alive and fighting for the title in this competition, Italy is the only team that has won all of their matches thus far. Roberto Mancini’s men came into this competition on the back of a 27-match unbeaten streak, but they were not the outright favourites to lift the title.
Known for their defensive approach to the game, the Italians changed the perception completely and have played an attacking and effortlessly swift brand of football. They won all of their matches in Group A, scoring 7 goals and conceding none.
In the round of 16 tie, Austria did cause them a few problems, but the Italians managed to get over the line in the extra time and seal a 2-1 victory. They faced the number 1 ranked team in the world, Belgium, in the quarter-final.
However, Mancini’s men dominated the game from the beginning and got a 2-0 lead by the 44th minute. Romelu Lukaku’s penalty did reduce the deficit, but it turned out to be nothing more than a mere consolation.
On the other hand, Spain’s head coach Luis Enrique was criticised even before the start of the competition, as he picked only 23 players for his squad, which lacked some prominent names like Sergio Ramos and Isco.
Their group stage journey was filled with ups and downs, but 5 points proved to be enough to guarantee a round of 16 place. There, they defeated Croatia 5-3 in what was one of the most enthralling matches of the season. Spain are coming into this match after beating Switzerland in the quarter-finals on penalties.
Key Players
Lorenzo Insigne stole the limelight with a piledriver of a shot against Belgium, which doubled Italy’s lead. The Napoli player is currently Italy’s joint-highest goal-scorer with two goals to his name. He also has 14 attempts to his name. Six of those attempts were on target, which is twice as many by any other Italian player. He will be Italy’s prime attacking weapon in this game.
Marco Verratti missed the initial part of this competition owing to an injury, and in his absence, Manuel Locatelli did quite an extraordinary job. However, ever since being reintegrated into the setup, Verratti has proved why he is such an important member of this Italian team. He has 15 tackles to his name, which any Italian in this competition is the most, despite missing a major chunk of action. Verratti also has attempted 274 passes and has a passing accuracy of 95.7% – the most by any Italian with more than 100 passes.
Despite the merciless criticism, Alvaro Morata is still the joint-highest goal-scorer for his nation. The Atletico Madrid player, who is currently on loan at Juventus, has scored two goals, while he also has 14 attempts to his name. The general assumption might suggest otherwise, but statistics prove that Morata has been one of Spain’s most clinical assets. He has 8 attempts on target, which is the most by any Spanish player.
Jordi Alba is one of the two Spanish players who played in the final of the 2012 UEFA European Championship, where Spain handed Italy a 4-0 thrashing. The FC Barcelona left-back might be 32 years of age on paper, but on the field, he is playing like his 2012 self. In terms of ball recovery, Alba is Spain’s joint-highest, with 27 balls recovered. He also has attempted 447 passes and has two assists to his name.
Prediction
If we look at the head-to-head records, Spain are slightly ahead of Italy. La Roja have beaten the Azzurri 12 times, while Italy have had the last laugh on 9 occasions. In terms of current head-to-head matches as well, Spain are holding the upper hand.
The Reds have lost only one of their last eight fixtures against Italy. However, all of those matches are from the pre-Mancini era. The three-time Serie A winning manager has certainly brought about the renaissance of Italian football.
Italy are now unbeaten in their last 32 matches. They have a resilient defence and an equally potent attack force, if not better. Spain, on the contrary, have looked shaky on numerous occasions in this competition. Hence, it will be safe to say that Italy will start this match as the favourites.
