Euro Result: Spain 1- 0 Italy

Euro Result: Spain 1- 0 Italy

With one match remaining, Spain won Group B of the UEFA EURO 2024 owing to an own goal by Riccardo Calafiori at Gelsenkirchen.

Following their initial triumphs, both teams chose their usual lineups. Spain made the lone alteration, moving Aymeric Laporte back into the center of defense, while Italy persisted with the team that defeated Albania despite trailing after only 23 seconds. Early on, the Azzurri were almost defeated once more thanks to Nico Williams’ cunning down the left, which gave Pedri a headed opportunity that Gianluigi Donnarumma turned over. 

Spain kept asking more questions when Williams missed an even better opportunity in the tenth minute, firing a header wide while in open in front of goal. Alessandro Bastoni blocked Fabián Ruiz’s attempt after Donnarumma had to be alert to save Álvaro Morata’s slanted effort. Ruiz then quickly dove to his left to flick over a long-range drive.

With the exception of a few signature runs down the left by Federico Dimarco, Italy had not been able to find a way into the Spain penalty area. In response, Luciano Spalletti substituted Bryan Cristante and Andrea Cambiaso at halftime. This did not stop the flow of play towards the Italy goal, and once more Pedri had a golden opportunity to break the tie but missed it when Marc Cucurella crossed the ball.

At last, the breakthrough materialized, although from an unforeseen direction. It was expected that Williams would start the move on the left side of Spain, but when Morata flicked on his cross, Donnarumma was just able to reach her fingers before the ball bounced in off Calafiori.

As Spain attempted to extend their lead, the goalie mishandled another Morata attempt; minutes later, Cambiaso cleared his own line. Then, Lamine Yamal curled just wide, and La Roja answered in kind, with the energetic Williams cutting inside from the left and hammering a shot against the crossbar from the corner of the box, even if a Cristante ball into the Spain goalmouth reminded them of Italy’s threat.

Italy attempted to gain momentum as time ran down, but Cristante’s flip, which Unai Simón easily collected, was the closest Italy could come to preventing Spain from earning their spot in the round of 16. In fact, with Donnarumma stopping replacement Ayoze Pérez twice in extra time, the three-time winners may have extended their lead in the closing moments.


Important Statistics

  • Spain has now defeated Italy three times in a row and has won the previous six meetings between the two teams (W4 D2).
  • This was the fifth time that Spain and Italy had faced off in the EURO final event, and it was their eighth meeting overall, a competition record.
  • Of the eight EURO matches, Spain has already won two; the other victory came in the 2012 final, where they triumphed 4-0.
  • In their past 14 EURO group matches, Spain has only lost once (W10 D3).
  • In their last 10 group stage matches in the competition, La Roja has preserved eight clean sheets.
  • Spain has only begun a EURO final campaign with two victories twice, in 2008 and 2016.
  • Pedri has played in 12 FIFA World Cup and EURO competitions, which is equal to the European record held by Cristiano Ronaldo for a player under the age of twenty-one.
  • Since Cristian Zaccardo’s own goal against the United States at the 2006 World Cup, Riccardo Calafiori is the only other Italian to score an own goal in a EURO or World Cup.
  • In 29 EURO group matches, Italy has only lost four of them (W16 D9).
  • This was Italy’s first loss in 11 EURO matches (W7 D3), excluding penalty shootouts.
  • For the first time in their previous 11 tournament games, the Azzurri were unable to score.

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