Luis de la Fuente had described Spain v Italy as a clásico, a game that could easily be the final; watching this, he might have been half right. The team he coaches beat Italy by an own goal to top the Group of Death with a fixture to spare but that doesn’t tell the story, nor even begin to express the way they took Italy apart. In fact, that the seleccion ultimately needed Riccardo Calafiori to deflect the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma to win this was absurd. The scoreline could and probably should have been five times that.
The surprise was not that Luciano Spalletti’s side lost here but that they lost so narrowly, that there was any point in their goalkeeper going up for a corner in added time. And that Spain had to suffer any nerves at all towards the end of a night in which they had appeared untouchable, utterly fearless. Reaching the final, on this evidence, is no fantasy.
What a performance: 20 shots, 50 attacks, and illustrious opponents sliced to pieces almost from beginning to end, when Ayoze Pérez came on and added two more clear opportunities to a catalogue of them.
The seleccion were relentless, impeccable but for the finishing, a plan coming together almost perfectly. After one superb effort, 16-year-old Lamine Yamal gestured for fans to get on their feet, but they already were. Italy, Spalletti said, could not live with Spain’s “speed, freshness and brilliance”, which was exactly the way their opponents had wanted it.
In the buildup to this match Lamine Yamal had talked about the value of taking on the full-back, going one on one from the start and refusing to let up; football, he said, is a “psychological game”. If you beat him the first time, you can feel the fear. And if you don’t, well, then you go back and do it again until you do.
That was the theory, the idea his coach drove into the two young wingers who are doing so much to make this a different Spain; here it was put into practice.
The game was only 85 seconds old when Nico Williams raced past Giovanni Di Lorenzo and delivered a glorious cross from which Pedri forced the first of eight saves from Donnarumma. Williams had gone outside that time. He would come inside the next time. The third time, he went outside again. Poor Di Lorenzo, it was a wonder his legs weren’t tied in a cartoon knot.
Di Lorenzo wasn’t alone in his suffering, either. Over on the other side Federico Dimarco had almost as bad a time. Lamine Yamal delivered the first dangerous ball on four minutes, a warning that he too was not going to let up. Nico and Lamine, Lamine and Nico, again and again: two wingers who are younger than Jesús Navas put together and will appear in Italian nightmares.
There was an ooh when Williams pirouetted, an aah when Lamine’s outrageous touch helped him escape Lorenzo Pellegrini’s wild lunge. Above all, there was attack after attack.
Nor was it just them. Marc Cucurella was superb. Rodri ran this, only he never seems to actually run. Pedri and Fabián Ruiz played wonderfully. Álvaro Morata, the perfect pivot, provided a superb ball to the far post from where Williams nodded another clear chance wide. Williams then skinned Di Lorenzo again before Lamine Yamal spun, left three men on the floor and found Morata who drew a sharp save from Donnarumma. Next a gorgeous, clean exchange between Pedri, Ruiz and Dani Carvajal set up Rodri. At half-time they had had nine shots to Italy’s one and that had not come until added time, a decent chance sliced over by Federico Chiesa.
Still, Spain came; still, the chances went. Cucurella pulled back for Pedri to sidefoot wide from seven yards. He fell to the floor, unable to believe it. Italy, though, could not hold out for ever. In fact, they scored Spain’s goal for them. Again, Williams did it, accelerating past Di Lorenzo. Morata got only the slightest touch on the cross, as did Donnarumma. Calafiori got more of one, deflecting into the net.
Spain led but did not rest. Morata’s shot was saved. Robin Le Normand’s header was cleared off the line. Lamine Yamal curled past the far post from 20 yards; what a goal that would have been. What a goal this would have been too: from the other side, Williams swung a shot off the bar. Still it was only one and there had been a reminder that it wasn’t over when Bryan Cristante sent a low cross all the way through the six-yard box where Mateo Retegui just failed to make contact. Then Donnarumma was sent up for one last throw of the dice right at the death but a goal then would have been ridiculous, and this was silly enough as it was.
