Johannesburg – After missing the last World Cup entirely, Italy are now two games away from lifting the European Championship trophy
They are set to face Spain in the semi-finals after their high-pressing system proved too much for Belgium to handle.
Insigne stunner the difference
Lorenzo Insigne, a member of the failed World Cup qualification efforts as well as his country’s Euro 2016 quarter-final exit, drove at full speed from near the halfway line before unleashing another one of his signature curling shots beyond the reach of Thibaut Courtois to give his side a 2-0 advantage in the 44th minute.
Belgium pulled one back from the penalty spot shortly after Insigne’s strike but were unable to find an equaliser.
“I saw Youri Tielemans in front of me, he was already on a yellow card, so I knew I could run at him,” Insigne said to RAI Sport. “I then saw the gap and went for it.”
Serious injury for Spinazzola
Leonardo Spinazzola, one of Italy’s biggest stars of the competition so far, went off on a stretcher with an Achilles tendon rupture.
The wing-back was chasing down a long ball with 15 minutes to play when he pulled up and immediately signalled for a substitution.
De Bruyne plays through ligament damage
Kevin De Bruyne has revealed he played with torn ankle ligaments during the quarter-final defeat. The injury had been suffered in the previous match vs Portugal but the severity had not been fully revealed publicly.
“It was a miracle that I played today because there was definitely damage to my ankle,” De Bruyne told UEFA.com. “But I felt responsibility to play for my country today. Too bad I couldn’t do more.”
Eden Hazard also sustained an injury against Portugal, however he was unable to take the field at all due to a debilitating hamstring problem.
Belgium reckon with age ahead of World Cup 2022
The No.1 team in the FIFA world rankings entering Euro 2020 is in danger of a steep drop-off once the World Cup in Qatar arrives next year.
Belgium have underperformed with their so-called golden generation in their prime years. And by December 2022, seven of their starters from yesterday will be at least 31 years old. It won’t be long before they’re in need of some young legs.
One bright spot in that department is 19-year-old Jeremy Doku, who completed eight dribbles against Italy – a single game record for a teenager in a major international tournament.
Spain squeak by super Sommer
Switzerland goalkeeper Yann Sommer saved a record 10 shots between regular and extra-time before stopping a penalty in the shootout portion of his side’s defeat to Spain.
But his Swiss team-mates failed to covert three of their four spot kicks, and La Roja booked their spot in the semi-finals.
When Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon won Man of the Match for his own shootout heroics, he praised his counterpart.
“Honestly? I’d have given [the award] to Yann Sommer,” he said.
However, Simon’s team-mates ensured the Athletic Club player would receive proper praise after he had responded so well to a terrible error in the last 16.
“He has such big balls,” Koke said of Simon. “What happened to him against Croatia was unfortunate but what he did afterwards was incredible.”
Red card controversy
Switzerland were forced to play with 10 men from the 77th minute onwards because of a straight red shown to Remo Freuler for a challenge on Gerard Moreno.
The referee’s decision was not popular among the Swiss contingent, as Freuler appeared to make contact with the ball in addition to Moreno.
Spain were unable to capitalise on their player advantage, though, as Sommer held the match level at 1-1 until the shootout.
Up next at Euro 2020
Today’s action consists of Ukraine vs England and Czech Republic vs Denmark. The winners will play one another in the semi-finals.
Southgate potentially forced to tweak attack
Bukayo Saka is an injury concern after picking up a knock in training, which could open a path for Jack Grealish to return to the starting line-up following his super-sub performance against Germany.
If Saka can’t play, there are other options for Gareth Southgate should he still want to keep Grealish as a second-half energiser, with new Manchester United signing Jadon Sancho also in contention.
England are otherwise healthy and must work to avoid feeling too confident from their Germany win in the last 16.
Denmark’s dream match-up?
The Czech Republic are the lowest-ranked FIFA nation left by a sizable margin, but as the Italy-Belgium match (among others) taught us, that pre-tournament list means little.
The Czechs are coming off an impressive display that eliminated the Netherlands, and they are realistically much better than 40th-best in the world at this point. Denmark beware.
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