Italy edge Belgium in thriller to set up semi against Spain
Italy are through to the semi final of the European Championship after seeing off World No 1 Belgium 2-1 in a thrilling clash at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Both team came into the game with the quest of advancing into the semi final but at the end of the night it was the Azzurri who did after an intense battle.
Italy opened scoring on the night in the 31st minutes when Nicolo Barella fired home after wriggling past the Belgium defenders to put his team ahead.
Lorenzo Insigne curling effort from outside the box before half time saw Italy go two up before Romelu Lukaku penalty at the 45th minutes after a foul from Lorenzo on Doku reduced the deficit.
Second half produced no goals from both sides. The win sees Italy maintain their 100% record at the tournament and continue their impressive record of 32 games without a defeat with 13 consecutive win.
Mancini's boys will face Spain on Tuesday at the Wembley after Luis Enrique boys overcame the stubborn Switzerland side after penalty shoot out.
This is the the am respecting most because in this tournament this are the team that don't have a lot of goal against from their opponent but them do score for them to move forward. Oh no their defense is very very okay if a did not mistake it
Yeah I was also looking forward to this match. Great to see it live up to expectations has it was a really exciting one between this two elite teams.
The scoreline was within ramge as I was even surprised all 3 goals came in the first half. They are both good defensive sides. I guess that played a part in the scoresheet to the eventual outcome as it could have been more
Can you now see what I said about this team on their defense line .this team are very tactical
Yeah I recall. Mancini's tactic seems to be more superior as the Belgian struggled greatly on the night. A far more superior tactics and form will be needed to outdo this Azzurris.
I doubt any coach in the tournament has shown such. Southgate's own however comes close. We may be seeing this two in the final.
Yeah, you are right
Final match on the way
Belgium did there best in the game but they allowed Italy take over the midfield of the game.
The first goal really reduced the moral of the team in the first half as they tried to equalize the goal.
Though I supported Italy to win and I'm happy to see them face Spain in the Semi finals.
Yeah you can say that again but the major problem was failing to convert chances that presented Itself. At the end of all of it, it just wasn't their night.
They didn't envisage the goal. I didn't too but it's one of those things. You fall behind a team like Italy and expect it to be easy from there on.
There were both part my favorites but Glad the better team won at the end of the match. Also excited about them facing Spain. Would surely love to see some payback for 2012