Italy are in the UEFA EURO 2020 Final after beating Spain on penalties, as Federico Chiesa’s goal was cancelled out by Alvaro Morata, but the Juventus striker made the crucial error in the shoot-out.
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The winners of this showdown go on to meet England or Denmark in the Final, also at Wembley Stadium, on Sunday.
Both sides lost important players to injury, Leonardo Spinazzola and Pablo Sarabia, so Emerson Palmieri and Dani Olmo stepped in, but the big surprise was Alvaro Morata and Gerard Moreno dropped in favour of False 9 Dani Olmo.
Nicolò Barella’s lob thumped the inside of the far post within four minutes, but he had just wandered offside. Oyarzabal’s first touch let him down when clear on goal, allowing Emerson to intercept, then Ciro Immobile and Barella were unable to make the most of an Unai Simon error.
Gianluigi Donnarumma had to be alert after Dani Olmo won a lucky ricochet off Leonardo Bonucci, as Spain’s False 9 approach seemed to take Italy by surprise.
Emerson almost scored on the stroke of half-time, as he was set up by Lorenzo Insigne’s reverse pass, but the shot was deflected off Cesar Azpilicueta to clip the crossbar.
Giovanni Di Lorenzo made a crucial interception on the Dani Olmo cross for Ferran Torres and Sergio Busquets fired over, then Simon smothered Federico Chiesa’s angled drive.
Donnarumma sparked the Italy goal by restarting play quickly, Insigne’s assist sent Immobile through, it took two defenders to block him off, leaving space for Chiesa to gather the loose ball and score with a wonderful right-foot curler from 15 yards.
Roberto Mancini also countered the Spain system with his own False 9, introducing Domenico Berardi for misfiring Immobile.
Oyarzabal really should’ve equalised, but only grazed the cross for what was a free header at the back post, while Olmo again fired wide.
Chiesa set up Berardi to force a save from Simon’s legs and Berardi was denied too, but Juventus striker Alvaro Morata came off the bench to score the equaliser. He burst through the centre, completed a give-and-go with Olmo and calmly passed it into the net one-on-one with Donnarumma. This was the first time in the entire competition that Italy had conceded an equaliser.
Spain had just one win in EURO 2020 after 90 minutes, as the Round of 16 with Croatia went to extra time and Switzerland were only beaten on penalties.
In extra time, Donnarumma was alert on a Dani Olmo free kick and punched a cross off the head of Morata, with Giorgio Chiellini charging down the Marcos Llorente follow-up.
Berardi’s curler looked to be going in before a decisive Laporte block, then moments later the Sassuolo man had the ball in the net, but was offside.
They could not be separated and the semi-final went to penalties, where Italy had lost both times before against Spain in EURO 2008 and the 2013 Confederations Cup.
The lottery saw Manuel Locatelli’s effort saved and Dani Olmo fire over, then Donnarumma saved Morata’s attempt and Jorginho calmly rolled in the decisive kick to send Italy into the Final.
Italy 1-1 Spain (aet)
Chiesa 60 (I), Morata 80 (S)
Penalties: Locatelli (I, saved), Dani Olmo (S, Over), Belotti (I, Goal), Gerard Moreno (S, Goal), Bonucci (I, Goal), Thiago Alcantara (S, Goal), Bernardeschi (I, Goal), Morata (S, Saved), Jorginho (I, Goal)
Italy: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Bonucci, Chiellini, Emerson Palmieri (Toloi 73); Barella (Locatelli 85), Jorginho, Verratti (Pessina 73); Chiesa (Bernardeschi 107), Immobile (Berardi 61), Insigne (Belotti 85)
Spain: Unai Simon; Azpilicueta (Marcos Llorente 85), Eric Garcia (Pau Torres 109), Laporte, Jordi Alba; Koke (Rodri 70), Busquets (Thiago Alcantara 106), Pedri; Ferran Torres (Morata 61), Oyarzabal (Gerard Moreno 70), Dani Olmo
Ref: Brych (GER)