With its best performance in over a decade, Spain’s national football team defeated European champions Italy in Gelsenkirchen on Thursday – and secured an early place in the European Championship round of 16. The Spaniards won 1-0 with a result that was wonderfully Italian, but did not even begin to do justice to the course of the game.
If Italy’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma had not put in an exceptionally good performance until the final minutes, the result would have been much higher. At times, Spain shook up one of the irrefutable truths of sport: that perfection does not exist in football. There was no aspect of the game in which Spain was not superior. The Iberians qualified for the next round as first in Group B and are therefore a possible quarter-final opponent for the German team.
Spain went into their 41st duel with the Italians with remarkable self-confidence. It was so great that coach Luis de la Fuente revealed his cards early on. He announced his line-up eighty minutes before the match, giving the Italians an extra twenty minutes to prepare for their opponents. According to the rules, he does not have to reveal his eleven until 60 minutes before kick-off. There was one surprise beforehand: central defender Nacho was replaced by Aymeric Laporte (allegedly due to injury). With kick-off, another one began: in a place that still evokes memories of the metallic sound of hammers underground, Spain performed a melodious symphony. The Spaniards’ composition must have sounded better than Puccini or Verdi, even to the Italians’ ears.
There is not a single Italian on the pitch who was individually better than the Spaniards
For half a game, the Italians seemed to sigh one “Mamma mia” after another, so great was their astonishment, their fear, their inferiority. And it was not just a question of possession, which was of course monopolised by the Spanish. Italy fired the first shot on goal when the end of stoppage time was announced. Giovanni Di Lorenzo fired the ball three metres over the goal. Before that, the Italians had only touched the ball once in the Spanish penalty area. Even in the defensive phases, the Spanish were extraordinarily exquisite and determined. There was not a single Italian on the pitch who was individually better than the Spanish.
This meant that the game belonged to Spain. In the second minute, Donnarumma had to save a header from six meters by Pedri, after a cross from left winger Nico Williams, who will probably still be watching Italy’s right-back Di Lorenzo in his sleep. Eight minutes later, Williams put another header from six meters wide of the goal, this time from center forward Álvaro Morata.
In the 24th minute, Donnarumma was there again to parry a shot from a tight angle by Morata – although the shot was not the event, but the preceding dribble by 16-year-old Lamine Yamal, who danced past three Italians. In total, the Spaniards had nine shots on goal in the first 45 minutes. One of them was by Fabián, who prompted another brilliant save from Donnarumma in the 26th minute – and narrowly missed the goal from 18 meters in the 41st minute.
Spain persisted after the break and was not intimidated by Cristante’s attempt to kick Spain’s midfield rulers off the pitch. First Pedri tried to score from close range after a back pass from left-back Cucurella, then with a whip from 20 meters, but it was an Italian, Riccardo Calafiori, who gave the Spaniards a more than deserved lead (56th minute). Williams once again embarrassed his marker Di Lorenzo, Morata headed the ball on, and because goalkeeper Donnarumma only caught the ball with his fingertips, it flew against Calafiori’s knee – and from there behind the line.
The lead did not appease the Spanish. They pressed for a second goal and had further good opportunities through Morata, Le Normand and Lamal. None were as striking as Williams’ in the 70th minute: a shot from a half-left position that hit the right-hand post. Luciano Spalletti made changes here and there, but Spain remained wonderfully superior. Perhaps more superior than in any other game since the 2012 European Championship final victory against Italy.
Spain still has a few games to play, but there was some resounding news on Thursday: Spain is the team to beat if you want to become European champions.