Euro 2020 Semifinals: Italy Beats Spain on Penalties
90’ + 3
Brych blows his whistle promptly again, and that’s that for regular time.
We’ll go to two 15-minute extra sessions, plus penalties as needed. This won’t be new for Spain: both of its knockout matches have gone to shootouts.
Italy’s did not; it went to extra time in the round of 16 before Pessina scored to beat Austria.
90’
As we cross 90 minutes at Wembley, and extra time looms, Chiellini appears to handle the ball — at least in Spanish eyes he did — in his own area while he fell to break up a play, but Brych waves play onward.
That’s reviewable, remember, now that the ball has gone out of play. (Nope; they will not even look.)
80’
GOAL!!! SPAIN! Morata has tied it!
What a lovely goal that was, an equalizer out of nothing, and in the blink of an eye. It started with a pass out of the defense that sliced through the midfield straight to Morata, who turned and took off. He offloaded to Olmo but never broke stride and got it right back, slotting home past Donnarumma.
ALVARO MORATA.
SPAIN ARE LEVEL!!! 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/PZCG4YXcik
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) July 6, 2021
That had to feel wonderful for Morata, who has been abused by fans, lost his starting spot today, and then came on and may have saved his country’s title hopes almost single-handedly.
78’
Spain’s players, coaches and fans all look nervous, and they have every reason to be worried: Few teams in the world can bar the door the way Italy can.
70’
More changes for Spain: Manchester City’s Rodri comes on for Koke in midfielder, and Gerard Morena replaces Oyarzabal, who will go sit on the bench and try to figure out how he missed that open header.
Italy is making changes, too, to bolster its defense for the last 20 minutes here. Matteo Pessina replaces Marco Verratti, who is in no hurry to go, and now Emerson strolls over and gives way to Atalanta defender Rafael Toloi.
65’
Oh dear: Spain’s Koke chips a wonderful ball over the top to a wide-open Oyarzabal, in clear behind the Italy defense, and he whiffs on the header.
61’
Morata immediately replaces Ferran Torres in Spain’s attack. No time for false nines or false anything now: Spain needs a goal.
Immobile departs at the same time, replaced by Berardi.
60’
GOAL! Federico Chiesa breaks the deadlock!
A magnificent break by Italy, started by Donnarumma, who rolled out the first ball from inside his area. In only a few touches the Italians had Spain on its heels. The first cutback and turn was stopped, but the free ball came to Chiesa and he curled it around Unai Simon. Beautiful goal and — most important — Italy leads, 1-0.
CHIESAAAAA 😱
A GOAL FOR ALL OF ITALY 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/7NXVrFIwKE
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) July 6, 2021
Spain will be infuriated by that, as it has had the better of the game and now is looking up at the scoreboard.
52’
Less than a minute later Busquets pops up for an open shot at the top of Italy’s area and fizzes it wide. He probably wishes he had that one back. Didn’t miss by much.
51’
Sergio Busquets chops down Immobile to stop an Italy breakout in its tracks, but he pays for that risk/reward calculation with the game’s first yellow card. He’ll need to be careful now, of course, but if anyone can play on a yellow, it’s Busquets.
48’
Unai Simon, whose misplay against Croatia produced one of the worst own goals of the tournament, manages to kick a clearance directly sideways in his own area. That’s tough to do, and a scrambling teammate knocks it out for a corner as he keeps it away from Insigne. But what was his goalkeeper thinking there?
46’
Italy kicks off after holding up the restart with a leisurely return to the field. Spain, out first, looks eager to get going.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/06/sports/euro-2020-semifinals-italy-spain/