Joselu knocks Italy out: Spain in the Nations League final (photo Lapresse)
Italy knocked out in the Nations League, Mancini: “Spain deserved a lot of regret for us. Maybe I’ve got the wrong form”
“In the end I think Spain deserved to win, even if the late goal conceded is a joke for us. We played a different game compared to our characteristics, but the boys put everything on the pitch. Few things came out in the second half, there are things we regret, but now we have to honor the final for third place, interpret it in the right way and do well”. Roberto Mancini’s comment after the 2-1 defeat of his Italy in the semi-final of the Nations League against Spain.
The national team coach mea-culpa for choosing the formation, the 3-5-2, preferred to the tested 4-3-3. “We had to play better, that’s for sure. We had set up the match in a certain way, but maybe this isn’t our football. In the first half it went well, in the second half we dropped too low and we couldn’t play anymore. Maybe I had to do something, I had to change something. Spain is a strong team, even when they change players. We set up a football a few years ago and maybe we have to continue with that, we set it up like this thinking we could do something better. I think there was a misjudgment on my part about the form.”
Italy ko in the Nations League with Spain. Immobile: “A defeat that burns a lot”
“We are bitter, we fought until the end but it wasn’t enough. The goal conceded in the final is a matter of bad luck, it happens in football. Defeat hurts a lot, we knew that with Spain it’s always difficult, they always keep the ball and wear you out, but in terms of opportunities, I think the game was balanced. I’m sad, now it’s also difficult to give a quick judgement”. These are the bitter words of Ciro Immobile at the end of the Nations League semi-final between Italy and Spain, won by the Iberians 2-1 with a goal in the final. The penalty kick from the Lazio striker, valid for the momentary draw, was not enough for the Azzurri.
Italy mocked 2-1 in extremis signed by Joselu, Spain in the Nations League final
Spain is the second finalist of the Nations League, thanks to the last minute victory against Italy. At the De Grolsch Veste stadium in Enschede, Roberto Mancini’s Azzurri were beaten 2-1 in the 88th minute by Joselu’s goal, after a back and forth between Jeremy Pino and Ciro Immobile at the start, the latter scoring from a penalty kick. Luis De La Fuente’s Red Furies then manage to snatch the pass for Sunday’s final against Croatia, while Italy had to settle only for the final for third place against the Netherlands, beaten 4-2 in extra time by the Croatian national team. Not even four minutes pass from the kick-off and the Spaniards unlock immediately thanks to Yeremy Pino, who takes advantage of an incredible mistake by Bonucci and signs the immediate 1-0 by beating Donnarumma.
However, the reaction of the Azzurri was ready, who in the 10th minute won a penalty with Zaniolo, who kicked into the area finding Le Normand’s wide arm: the referee whistled the penalty and Immobile transformed it into the 1-1 goal. In the 22nd minute Mancini’s team would also find the goal to overturn the result, but Frattesi’s goal was thwarted by his own millimetric offside position following Jorginho’s vertical pass. Close to the half hour, the Red Furies dangerously show up again with a poisonous shot from Morata saved by Donnarumma, while in the final part of the fraction Italy scares Unai Simon with a shot from outside Toloi that ends just high. At the beginning of the second half, Spain has a sensational double chance for the new lead: Merino is blocked from a stone’s throw away by Donnarumma, then Morata tries to turn around in the small area by narrowly widening. A few moments later Rodri tries acrobatically by kicking high, then the Azzurri respond in the 65th minute by creating a great goal with Frattesi, who kicks with a sure blow from Zaniolo’s low cross finding a great reflex from the goalkeeper. As the minutes go by, the rhythms decrease and the emotions diminish, but just when they were about to savor extra time, the joke for Italy arrives: in the 88th minute De La Fuente’s team scored the decisive 2-1 thanks to the new substitute Joselu, who sent in from close range after a long-range shot by Rodri deflected by the defence.
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