The Football fever is in the air with the semifinals and the UEFA Nations League finals, which will occur this week. Belgium, France, Italy and Spain reached the finals of the 2021 edition by finishing at the top of their respective groups in League A.
The first match of the semifinal took place between Italy and Spain on the 6th of October in Milan.
The Spain-Italy rivalry
Spain and Italy have won five FIFA World Cups and five UEFA European Championship between them. They played against each other 39 times now, including three times in the World Cup and six times in the European Championship, and not to forget the previous four Euros from 2008 to 2020 editions.
One of their most well-known matches was the UEFA Euro 2012 Final, which Spain won with a score of 4–0. They also played against one another at the 2013 FIFA Confederations.
Italy has been in great form over the last three years, especially this summer at Euro 2020, so they were naturally expected to win.
In addition, the fact that they are playing in their home country where they have seldom tasted defeat was considered to be a massive advantage for the team. Italy has played 144 competitive fixtures on home soil and had been beaten only thrice. Their last defeat was 22 years ago.
Italy against Spain
Manchester City’s Ferran Torres celebrates with his team after scoring his first goal of the match
Within the first 17 minutes of the game, Marcos Alonso played a pass down the side for Oyarzabal, who put in a brilliant cross that Ferran volleyed and scored a goal for Spain giving them a lead over Italy.
Twenty-five minutes post that Leonardo Bonucci was sent off for a second yellow card after elbowing Sergio Busquets. By halftime, Italy was already one man down and two goals down.
Despite these challenges, Italy displayed a tremendous overall performance and made Spain sweat till the last few minutes of the match. Italy sent on their defender Giorgio Chiellini at halftime.
It set up a grandstand finish when Lorenzo Pellegrini scored with seven minutes to play. Still, Spain’s youngest debutant Gavi impressing and Yeremi Pino was a formidable force during the match.
Fans target Donnarumma
AC Milan fans furious at Donnarumma after a new contract dispute
The match was played in such a tense atmosphere as Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was booed by his fans every time he touched the ball. This impacted him negatively and gave Spain the advantage of the first goal in the 17th minute.
Donnarumma left the Rossoneri to join Paris St Germain in July after six seasons in Milan, and some supporters have not forgiven the goalie his departure. He helped them reach the second position in Serie A last season to secure Champions League qualification for the first time since 2013-14.
The Italian coach, Roberto Mancini, spoke about the match, saying that the episode was rather unfortunate. He further added that this was the sort of mistake they should have avoided at this level.
The outcome of the match
After a long match, Spain emerged victoriously and broke Italy’s world record of 37 unbeaten runs to reach the Nations League final.Spain won against them with a score of 2-1.
Ferran Torres scored both the goals for Spain, which led them into the finals. This match was a redemption of sorts as the 2010 world champions got revenge for the UEFA Euro 2020 semifinal loss. They will face the winners of Thursday’s other semifinal between France and Belgium on Sunday
