Italy booked its place in the semi-final with an impressive 2-1 quarter-final victory over FIFA’s top-ranked nation Belgium. As a result, they’ve now reached the semi-finals of a major tournament on 12 occasions – the only European nation to better that is Germany (20) – and Roberto Mancini’s men have also won their last 15 Euro matches (including qualifiers) in what is a new competition record!
Based on the above, their confidence should be soaring. However, Italy did concede within 90 minutes last time out for the first time after 12 consecutive clean sheets in regulation time, showing a chink in the armor of that robust ‘Azzurri’ defense. Furthermore, their H2H record of one win in eight (D4, L3 – 90 mins) suggests there may be a mental barrier to overcome here. [Read more…] about Italy vs Spain semi final EURO 7.7.2021