Italy
Arsenal star tipped to make surprise return after injury
Italy booked their place in the final of the European Championships with a thrilling penalty shoot-out victory over Spain on Tuesday. Spain exited the tournament despite racking up more than one million passes against an Italian team that were happy to let them have the ball. England are favourites to join them in the final, although it would be foolish to underestimate the threat posed by Denmark this evening. Saka set to start England have been tipped to make one change to their line-up for the semi-final, with Bukayo Saka replacing Jadon Sancho. The 19-year-old missed the last-eight clash against Ukraine after picking up a knock, and Sancho was hugely impressive in his absence. 🚨 England expected to make one change for tonight’s #EURO2020 SF v Denmark — Bukayo Saka set to regain...
UEFA invite Christian Eriksen, medics who saved him to Euro final
European football governing body UEFA have invited Denmark international Christian Eriksen and the paramedics who helped save his life during an on-field cardiac arrest to attend the EURO 2020 final at Wembley on Sunday. The brilliant Danish midfielder was resuscitated in front of shocked fans and a massive global TV audience during his nation’s first match of the tournament. Uefa said Eriksen, his wife and six medics were invited to the final, but there was no confirmation he would attend. One of the paramedics, Peder Ersgaard, said he was honoured to receive a VIP invite from Uefa boss Aleksander Ceferin. “I’m excited, like a child on Christmas Eve,” he told the Fagbladet FOA magazine. “I’m very proud of my efforts, but also of the whole team. It wasn’t a one-man effort.” Eriksen collaps...
Napoli man MOTM, Barcelona duo also impress – Italy 1-1 Spain Player Ratings
Italy reached the Euro 2020 final after a tense penalty shootout victory against Spain. Spain had the better of the early exchanges, twice creating chances to open the scoring. Mikel Oyarzabal was played through on goal by Pedri but his touch let him down, and Ferran Torres saw his shot from outside the box dribble wide. Italy got their first opportunity of the game, and it was one that they may feel they should have done better with. Emerson got in behind after a one-two with Lorenzo Insigne and squared for Ciro Immobile. Goalkeeper Unai Simon out of his goal, but neither Immobile nor Nicolo Barella were able to get a shot away. The best chance of the half came shortly afterwards. Pedri and Oyarzabal were again influential, working an opening for Dani Olmo, but the RB Leipzig man’s shot w...
England coach disses Chelsea legends, gives backing to Tottenham star
The first of the European Championship semi-finals takes place later today, with Italy facing Spain at Wembley Stadium. With COVID-19 restrictions gradually being eased, there will be 60,000 fans in attendance to watch what should be a cracking game. However, if you happen to be Italy’s manager, this isn’t a cause for celebration. We’ll get to him shortly, but let’s start our latest Euro 2020 Diary with some odd comments from an England coach. Holland gets carried away England assistant coach Steve Holland has claimed that Harry Kane is the best finisher he’s ever seen. During an interview with talkSPORT, Holland mentioned Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard as being great finishers but placed Kane ahead of them. 🗣️ “I was fortunate enough to work with Didier at Chelsea, but the...
Italy vs Spain – Euro 2020 Semi-Final Preview, H2H, Team News, Players to Watch & Predicted Line-ups
Italy and Spain will go head-to-head at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday night in a mouth-watering Euro 2020 semi-final showdown. Italy’s road to redemption at Euro 2020 has seen them top Group A with all three victories and oust Austria and Belgium in the first two knockout rounds. By contrast, the Spaniards may be tired heading into this meeting after failing to negotiate their previous knockout fixtures inside the 90 minutes. Note: You can watch all Euro 2020 games via live streaming. Italy Preview Italy needed extra time to squeak through to the quarter-finals, where it took them just 45 minutes to overcome the world’s best-ranked nation Belgium and reach their first Euro semi-finals since 2012. Romelu Lukaku’s first-half penalty during Italy’s 2-1 quarter-final success saw Gli Azzurri ...
Former Arsenal star fluffs his lines as £90 million man flops
The first two European Championship quarter-finals didn’t disappoint, with Spain and Italy progressing after two entertaining matches. Spain defeated Switzerland on penalties in the opening fixture, while Italy deservedly defeated over-hyped Belgium in the second game. Ahead of the remaining two quarter-finals, we take a look at a few Euro 2020 talking points from the last 24 hours. Keown fluffs his lines If you’ve been following this column during the tournament, you will know that we’ve not been overly enamoured with some of the co-commentators and pundits. Robbie Savage? Biased. Danny Murphy? Lousy. Jermaine Jenas? Terrible. After last night’s games, we have another addition to the list – Martin Keown. Keown” “its been the game of the tournament” LOL. and he gets paid for this? Best tea...
Tactical Analysis: How Italy outclassed Belgium in the Euros
The 16th edition of the European Championships continued to deliver football and entertainment of the highest order as we entered the quarterfinal stage, and the biggest clash of the last-eight featured Belgium and Italy, who squared off in the Allianz Arena in Munich. Both sides had exited in the quarterfinals in Euro 2016, but one of their fates was set to change here. Belgium had a couple of key players including Eden Hazard out due to injury, while Italy were fit and firing as Roberto Mancini had a winning formula working brilliantly even before the group stage started. After a hard-fought 90 minutes, Italy emerged 2-1 winners thanks to a couple of very good finishes in the first half. In this analysis, we will take a look at how Roberto Mancini’s side were able to beat the Belgians, a...
‘What a player’: Some Chelsea fans praise ‘masterclass’ performance of €40m-rated star
A selection of Chelsea fans on Twitter heaped praise on midfielder Jorginho, who produced a sublime midfield display during Italy’s 2-1 win over Belgium at Euro 2020. The Azzurri booked their spot in the last four of the tournament with goals from Nicolo Barella and Lorenzo Insigne. Romelu Lukaku scored from the spot for Belgium. Jorginho was one of the many standout performers for the Azzurri on the night. He was splendid with his distribution with 71 of his 72 attempted passes completed. The 29-year-old also won five ground duels, and lost possession on just three occasions. Some of the Blues supporters were delighted with his near flawless performance for the national team, and here are a few reactions on Twitter. The last time Jorginho lost a game with Italy was in 2018 vs Portugal. A ...
Inter Milan duo get on scoresheet, former Premier League defender disappoints – Belgium 1-2 Italy Player Ratings
Belgium have been knocked out of the European Championships after losing 2-1 to Italy on Friday. Italy thought they had taken an early lead when Leonardo Bonucci bundled home at the back post from a free-kick. However, replays showed that he was marginally offside, and VAR intervened to overturn the decision. Belgium responded with a couple of chances of their own. Gianluigi Donnarumma twice had to be at his best, denying Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku. And moments later, Italy got themselves in front. Jan Vertonghen made a mess of a clearance, and it fell to Nicolo Barella in the box. The Inter Milan midfielder wriggled away from Thomas Vermaelen and Thorgan Hazard and slammed into the far corner. They continued to push for a second, and they were rewarded with a fantastic goal just be...
Arsenal warned off signing £35 million international star
Not long to go now folks! We’re around an hour away from the start of the quarter-finals at the European Championships. It’s the ‘tough half of the draw’ this evening as Spain face Switzerland, while Italy go head-to-head with Belgium. On Saturday we’ve got Czech Republic against Denmark and England versus Ukraine. Or, as most of the English media would have you believe, England are playing and no one else. Ahead of the action, we’ve dug out three stories that have caught our attention for our latest Euro 2020 Diary. Arsenal warned off Locatelli ‘I’m not a manager, but it’s not something I would do if I was in Mikel Arteta’s shoes.’ Nigel Winterburn there, telling the current Arsenal boss not to sign Manuel Locatelli. The 23-year-old has been superb at Euro 2020, sparking talk that he coul...
Euro 2020: Italy bars travelling England fans from Rome stadium
Fans travelling from the UK to Italy for England’s Euro 2020 quarterfinal clash with Ukraine on Saturday will not be allowed to enter the stadium in Rome, even if they have a ticket, due to coronavirus curbs, the Italian Embassy in London said on Thursday. England’s victory over Germany on Tuesday set up the last-eight clash at the Stadio Olimpico, but fans looking to make the journey to Italy from the UK cannot attend the match. “Anybody who has been in the UK in the previous 14 days, irrespective of their nationality or residency, will not be admitted to the stadium, even if they have a ticket,” a statement read. “Only those who can prove that they have arrived in Italy at least six days previously, have observed five days of quarantine, and have taken a post-quarantine Covid-19 test wit...
Euro 2020 Predictions: England, Denmark, Spain and Italy to progress to the semifinals
After a thrilling set of last 16 ties, the Euro 2020 quarter-finals are upon us. We could be in for another exhilarating round of fixtures. With giants such as France, Germany, Portugal and Netherlands all eliminated, the tournament is wide open. All of the remaining eight will know that there is a huge opportunity to get some silverware in the cabinet. Here are our predictions for the quarter-finals. Switzerland vs Spain Morata got his first goal of the summer in extra time Having looked down and out against France, Switzerland pulled off the shock of the tournament by coming back and defeating the world champions on penalties. Spain’s game against Croatia was equally as thrilling. They were 3-1 up going into the closing stages but conceded twice late on to go to extra time before hitting...
