In Thursday’s final match of Euro 2024, the Italian and Spanish teams faced off. These teams have faced each other constantly since Euro 2008. Then the Spanish won on penalties. At the 2012 European Championship, the teams played in the group and in the final of the tournament, at Euro 2016 and Euro 2020 they met again in the playoffs.
The Italians are the current European champions. At first, Luciano Spalletti’s team suffered against the Albanian team, but still won. The daring Spaniards easily defeated Croatia 3:0.
In the first half, the Spanish had an overwhelming advantage. In 45 minutes, the Euro 2020 champions did not bother the Spanish team’s goalkeeper, Unai Simón.
The Spanish attacked strongly, especially on the flank, with Nico Williams standing out, from whom the main threat came. The young Lamin Yamal also tried, in one of the episodes he put Álvaro Morata in an attacking position, but Gianludzhi Donnarumma played with confidence.
The PSG goalkeeper came to the rescue several more times. Especially impressive was the save after Fabián Roos’ long shot. But the Italian goalkeeper stopped the ball, which went under the crossbar.
The break did not particularly affect the game. The Spanish continued to dominate and were able to score. However, this could not have happened without the help of the opposing player. Riccardo Calafiori sent the ball into his own goal.
The Italians got a little excited at the end of the game, but there were no scoring chances. The Spanish team had several more chances to increase their lead, but Dannarumma kept shooting. The Italian goalkeeper once again stressed that he is prepared to compete at PSG with the goalkeeper of the Russian team, Matvey Safonov.
The Spanish team won 1:0, guaranteeing access to the round of 16 from first place in the group. In the final round, the Spanish will play against Albania and Italy against Croatia.
