First Euro semi-final: in the match Spain - Italy both teams deserved victory

Late in the evening of July 6, the first semifinal match of Euro 2020 Italy - Spain ended with another series of penalty shootouts in London. In regular and extra time it ended with a score of 1: 1, and in the penalty spot the Italians were more accurate 4: 2. It is worth noting that the Spaniards have played extra time in this tournament for the third time in a row and have taken a penalty kick for the second time in a row. Apparently, this circumstance affected their psychological and physical form, since, according to the unanimous opinion of experts, they played better than the Italians. By the way, a long tradition has been confirmed in the penalty shootout - not a single team in the history of Euro has won two series in a row. Spain also failed.

The fans of the “red fury” are especially offended by the fact that two players missed their shots - Dani Olmo and Alvaro Morata, who in the second half of the match played a beautiful combination among themselves, as a result of which Morata equalized the score in the match.

However, the unanimous assessment of the experts does not mean that they did not like the game of the Italian national team. Not at all, it was the Italians who became the opening of this tournament with their reckless and unusually attacking game. So there is some kind of justice in the fact that he reached the final.

Here is what sports columnist Igor Rabiner writes about this:

“In a particular match, both teams deserved victories approximately equally - maybe the Spaniards even a little more. But the tournament as a whole "Squadra Azzurra" is much brighter, more stable and more integral. Actually, the fantastic unbeaten run of Roberto Mancini's team, which began long before the Euro, in itself speaks of the non-coincidence of this takeoff.

The super-modern game, and most importantly, the desire to go in a non-standard way for the Italian national team made me root for the Azzurra yesterday, although I have never been their fan.

And the time of Spain, I think, may still come, but on one condition - if the gorgeous Luis Enrique remains. He raised the "Red Fury" to a height that she had not objectively pulled yet. And after the first two matches, it even seemed that it was not a fact that she would come out in the playoffs either..."

Journalist Kirill Shulika agrees with this assessment:

“Italy was better than Spain during the EURO. But today Spain was better..."

But the great Spanish midfielder Andres Iniesta, who scored the winning goal in the 2010 World Cup final in South Africa in 2010, is confident that the Spanish national team will still show themselves in all their glory:

“I am proud of this team. Congratulations... I am sure that the team will bring us a lot of joy..."

Former Russian national team midfielder Alexander Mostovoy, who played in the Spanish championship for Celta and Alaves, commented on Italy's victory over Red Fury. Before the game, I said that in regular time the score will be 1: 1 and everything will be decided either in extra or in a penalty shootout. It is clear that I was rooting for the Spaniards, but also for the Italians. Before the game, I said that it would be better if they played in the final, but it turned out like this, "Mostovy TASS quotes.

Despite the loss, the head coach of the Spanish national team, Luis Enrique, also praised the game of his team as "excellent":

“If I wanted to rate my players, I think we would deserve excellent. I think everyone played great. No complaints - only praise. It's time for them to rest. What we lacked was realization when we had great moments. The players did very well what we asked them to do..."

Another hero of the match, the striker of the Italian national team, who scored both a beautiful goal from the field and his penalty kick, Federico Chiesa noted after the victory that the players remained calm, although the penalty shootout began with a miss from the Italian Manuel Locatelli:

“In the Spanish national team, there are stars in every position, but we fought to the end, wanting to go further, and we did it. Even when Locatelli missed the first penalty, everyone remained calm, everyone said that everything is still within our power”.

And the Russian journalist Georgy Kudinov named the reasons why the head coach of the Italian national team Roberto Mancini, who coached St. Petersburg Zenit without much brilliance a few years ago, suddenly flourished in a new position so that he leads his team from victory to victory:

“Italy got a bright figure at the head of the national team, and the cunning Mancini, who has been able to correctly calculate his steps in life since his playing days, got a great opportunity to remind football Europe of himself.

Roberto found himself in a win-win situation. Worse than under the poor Ventura, Italy could not perform by definition. The renewal of the roster was self-evident, and it was not Mancini's initiative. Social expectations of the country at the time of Roberto's appointment remained very modest: for a start - at least to return “Squadre Azzurra” self-esteem.

Considering that Mancini is a really good coach and a person with charisma, he himself had no doubts that he would definitely fulfill the minimum. And this means that in any case, Roberto will already be better than his predecessor. In the specific situation of 2018, he risked little, but he could well benefit from it. Therefore, Mancini came to the national team not only as motivated as possible, but also quite liberated and confident in himself, all the more he understood that there was no alternative.

Of course, at first no one could imagine what happened next. The records that Italy are now beating are definitely impressive and deserve respect. An in-depth analysis of Roberto's work is possible, probably, after the end of Euro 2020, but for now I will emphasize this. It is quite obvious that the competent and charismatic coach Mancini managed to choose the right players, rallying them around himself and his staff. The coach found the right approach to the team - and received reciprocal trust. That is, he did exactly what he did not want (or could not) at Zenit.

In St. Petersburg, Mancini worked for a lot of money, but under pressure and without courage. In the Italian national team, he has a sane salary, pleasure and serious internal incentives. It can be seen that Roberto himself is "rushing" from what he does and what he achieves...

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