Spain gives Italy its first home defeat since 1999 and is a finalist

Wednesday, October 6, 2021 at 10:43 PM• Mart van Mourik • Last update: 23:29

Spain has qualified for the final of the Nations League on Wednesday evening. In Milan, the team of national coach Luis Enrique took on Italy, which was defeated 1-2. This put an end to the unbeaten run of 37 games for the Italians. It was also only the fourth time in history that gli Azzurri lost an official home game; the last defeat in their own country was in 1999 against Denmark (2-3). In fact, it was the first time since 1925 that the Italians lost a match at the San Siro. Sunday plays la Roja in the same stadium the final against the winner of the duel between Belgium and France.

In the repeat of the semi-finals of the summer European Championship, the injured attackers Ciro Immobile, Andrea Belotti, Gerard Moreno and Álvaro Morata were missing. Among the visitors, the most striking name in the starting eleven was Gavi, who at 17 years and 62 days relieved Ángel Zubieta as the youngest international ever from Spain. The first danger of the match was created by the Italians. After losing the ball in Gavi’s own half, the ball ended up through a few links at Federico Chiesa, who then looked for the bottom corner but encountered goalkeeper Unai Simón.

After an excellent opening phase by Italy, Spain was the first to act after thirteen minutes of play. Thanks to a through pass from Marcos Alonso and a custom pass from Pablo Sarabia, Mikel Oyarzabal had an excellent shooting opportunity, but his attempt on goal nipped in the bud. Four minutes later, the Spaniards were accurate. Oyarzabal steamed up on the left side of the field and delivered a nice cross to Ferran Torres, who finished in complete freedom with the inside in a cool way: 0-1. In the nineteenth minute, Spain even came close to 0-2. From the edge of the box, Alonso fired an eye-catching shot towards Gianluigi Donnarumma, who let the ball slip through his fingers but was saved by the post. Leonardo Bonucci then narrowly cleared before Koke could tap in from the rebound.

Before disaster struck, Bernardeschi came in the 35th minute with a vicious shot into the short corner. Simón reacted alertly to the bet and tapped the ball wide of the post. A minute later, Lorenzo Insigne should have scored the 1-1 at the penalty spot after a pass from Emerson; however, the Napoli striker narrowly missed the ball. More than five minutes before the halftime signal, Italy came up with ten men. On the Italian half, Leonardo Bonucci planted his elbow in the neck of Sergio Busquets, and that was reason enough for referee Sergey Karasev to show the center defender his second yellow print.

On the stroke of the halftime signal, Spain took maximum advantage of the surplus situation. Once again the attack ran down the left flank and Oyarzabal was given space to deliver a perfect pass to Torres. The ‘false number 9’ nodded diagonally in from close range: 0-2. In the second act, Italy tried to force a breakthrough, although the Spaniards managed to avert every danger. Enrique’s team itself had a great chance of a new goal halfway through the second half. Yéremi Pino, who made his debut as a substitute and had relieved Torres, delivered a measured cross to Oyarzabal. The Real Sociedad attacker then nodded close to the left post.

Italy escaped again in the 78th minute. Pino this time served Alonso, who was given plenty of space but failed to outwit Donnarumma. Bryan Gil also didn’t get the leather against the ropes from the rebound. Against the proportions and expectations, the home country still found the connection goal. Federico Chiesa broke through the Spanish defense after a mistake by Pau Torres. From the midline, the Juventus attacker sprinted towards the enemy goal and passed the ball to Pellegrini, who was able to tap for an empty goal: 1-2. Tension mounted in the remaining ten minutes, but the scoreboard stopped moving.