Euro 2020 Semi-final Highlights Italy vs Spain: Italy reach the final of the European Championship with a 4-2 win over Spain on penalties. Jorginho scored the winning penalty while Alvaro Morata missing Spain’s third penalty kick proved to be costly. Italy will take on the winner of the second semi-final between England and Denmark, which takes place tomorrow at 12.30AM IST.
Story of the Match: Belotti, Bonucci, Bernardeschi and Jorginho converted for Italy in the penalty shootout. For Spain, Gerard Moreno and Thiago Alcantara converted while Dani Olmo and Alvaro Morata missed. The first semi-finalist will be decided by the penalty shootout. The match is edging towards the penalties with both teams cautious and fatigue starting to show up. After 15 minutes of extra time, Italy and Spain are locked at 1-1 but Spain still have more control over the game. The match goes into extra time after 90 minutes of football at the Wembley yields a 1-1 result. Alvaro Morata equalises for Spain after coming on from the bench. Chiesa gives a fantastic finish to a beautiful Italian counter-attack as the Azzurri take the lead. End-to-end action early on in the second half. Spain have been the better side overall in the first 45 minutes but Italy have had moments of spark as well. The scoreline, though, remains untouched. Donnarumma comes up with a fantastic save to deny Olmo. Spain have been on attack with more of the ball possession than Italy.
There was no particular favourite going into the match but given the form of both the teams, the bets were slightly edging towards the Italians. While Spain proved to be much more dominant with the ball and in terms of the chances, Italy put up a gritty performance to edge out as the winners at Wembley.
The game was the latest episode in a burgeoning rivalry between Italy and Spain with the nations meeting in four consecutive European Championships. Spain won on penalties in the quarter-finals in Vienna in 2008 on their way to winning the trophy and then thrashed Italy 4-0 in the final in Kiev four years later. Italy gained a measure of revenge by winning 2-0 in the last 16 at Euro 2016. Now, Italy have the penalty revenge as well with the 4-2 win on penalties in Euro 2020.
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