When the king demands, his subjects comply. In the stands of the Veltins-Arena, where he has just witnessed the first forty-five minutes of the match between Spain and Italy, Thursday June 20, the sovereign Felipe VI establishes a clear observation regarding the performance of the players from Roja: “It’s a marvel to see them play. What is missing is a goal. » This, finally, came in the second period and allowed Spain to beat the Nazionale (1-0) and qualify for the round of 16.
Despite this small goal difference, La Roja was not worried, far from it, and should have won more widely. Confident even before the final whistle, its 12,000 supporters who occupied the aisles of the Gelsenkirchen arena hummed the tune of the Marcha Realthe Spanish anthem, before launching olé with each touch of the ball from Luis de la Fuente’s men in added time. In the role of the wounded beast? The Squadra Azzurra players, visibly overwhelmed.
There Gazzetta dello Sport, the Italian sports daily of reference, nevertheless imagined a scenario perfectly opposite to the front page of its edition of the day: Luciano Spalletti, the coach of the Nazionale, was illustrated there as a matador waving a blue cape, reminiscent of the jersey of his team, facing to a Spanish bull. This is also how the 65-year-old technician imagined his team, taming his opponent by surpassing him in what had made him successful at the turn of the 2010s, namely the possession game.
After the victory against Albania (2-1) then on the eve of this second match against Spain, Luciano Spalletti described his ambitions at length at a press conference. And not least: “We want to produce positive football, possession football and dictate the pace of the game. » The Squadra Azzurra, which won Euro 2021 by playing an attractive game, never achieved it on Thursday. Recalling in passing that during the Spain-Italy at the Euro – a classic which has taken place during each edition since 2008 – La Roja is always the one who dictates the tempo.
La Roja, a chameleon team
This was again the case on Thursday and Luis de la Fuente was pleased with the performance of his players, “the best match I have managed, the most complete match” at the head of the selection which he joined in January 2023. This controlled and convincing success against Italy confirms the versatility of his team, which makes it all the more dangerous in this tournament. Their victory against Croatia (3-0) seemed to have marked the change in identity of this Roja, who finished the match with less than 50% possession, a first in 112 matches and almost ten years.
You have 48.09% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.