Italy set up a Euro 2020 semi-final clash with Spain following a hardfought 2-1 win against Belgium on Friday evening.
Roberto Mancini’s men had a 2-0 lead inside 44 minutes thanks to goals from Nicolo Barella and Lorenzo Insigne.
Romelu Lukaku pulled one back for Belgium in first-half stoppage time, but Italy held on to book a place in the last four.
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Leonardo Bonucci thought he had given Italy a 13th-minute lead when he prodded home a free-kick from close-range.
However, VAR ruled the goal out as the Juventus defender was adjudged to be offside when the onrushing Giovanni Di Lorenzo diverted the ball into his teammate’s path.
Italy took the lead in the 31st minute through Nicolo Barella who was played in by Marco Verratti after Youri Tielemans lost possession on the edge of his box.
And when it looked like Italy would be going into the break with a 1-0 advantage, a bit of magic from Insigne doubled his side’s lead on 44 minutes.
The Napoli winger was not closed down when he cut inside on to his right foot and curled in an unstoppable strike from 25 yards a minute before half-time.
There was more drama to come when Di Lorenzo’s push on Jeremy Doku inside the box gave Belgium a lifeline in first-half injury-time.
Lukaku stepped up and slotted the ball past Donnarumma to score his fourth goal at Euro 2020.
But every effort by the Belgians to drag the game to extra-time proved abortive as the Italians held on for the win.
7 Comments
An Italian job well executed. Kudos to Don Mancini.
Is this the end of the reign of Martinez as manager of Belgium? One can imagine that Belgium fans will be decidedly Omo9ja-esque in their reaction to this shocker of a result. Yes it is a shocker! This Euro cup was Belgium’s to lose, and they have thrown it away. Furthermore, Belgium fans will be quick to point out that Martinez has not yet won even a tea cup for Belgium, even though he guided the country to the top spot in world football in his tenure. That fact will count very little to enraged, frustrated Belgium fans.
So the SACK word will start circulating rapidly in Belgium now, much like Omo9ja and his cronies, the die-hard regressives, keep howling like wolves for Rohr’s dismissal.
We will see what happens next.
My 3 likely Euro winners used to include Belgium. Now that they’ve been bundled out of sight, their conquerors Italy will take their place.
With due respect to the other participants, my picks are Spain, Italy and England. It’s looking real good for Spain at the moment, but they must be wary. Italy and England are formidable foes. But regarding England, they first have to scale the Ukraine hurdle. That should be done with minimum fuss, I expect. But this is football. You just never know.
Well said sir.
What nonsense are you typing here. Please tell us the purpose of having a coach? take you to a tournament, with the best record in the world and perfect players in the world and at the end of the day to lose in the quarter-finals. So are you now saying thats an achievement. Sometimes i wonder what goes through the head of some of you guys. A coach should continue to remain at his job despite not winning what he is being hired to do. I tire for una
I see some errors in this write up you produced. You start a sentence with small letters instead of capital letters. Use of THATS in a sentence instead of THAT’S. Just a few errors.
Under normal circumstances, I would ignore them and still learn from you. But in this case, I think you should get the same treatment you are dishing out to Rohr.
Therefore, I also recommend that your employer should fire you asap for poor use of English. They should not waste time at all. You need to be sacked with immediate effect.
All your years of good work should be ignored completely. Just for these few errors, your career should be brought to a halt, and you should be kicked out the door.
This is what you wish for your fellow human being Rohr. I wish it for you as well.
Kenneth. Why are some Nigerians always go on the abusive lane. Why are always cursing. Is it the situation of the country. Must you abuse to pass info across. Come on you need to look at this. It’s likely there is a problem around you. Cursing and abusing does not show maturity or responsibility.
@pompei I always love your update. Full of sense and fact.
Thanks, CMN.