Roberto Mancini says Italy ‘deserved the victory’ and controlled Belgium in all but the final 10 minutes of their UEFA EURO 2020 quarter-final win. ‘We could’ve scored more goals.’
The Azzurri faced their toughest test of the tournament so far, but beat the team rated top of the FIFA world rankings thanks to goals from Nicolò Barella and Lorenzo Insigne.
Romelu Lukaku converted a debatable penalty on the stroke of half-time, but Gianluigi Donnarumma was a rock in goal.
“We deserved the victory. The lads were extraordinary, and clearly we suffered in the last 10 minutes as we were really tired, but we could’ve scored more goals earlier,” the coach told RAI Sport.
“I didn’t see 25 minutes of struggle at the start. There were chances at both ends, it was an open game. We only struggled in the last 10 minutes when Belgium started playing a long ball game.”
The semi-final will be against Spain on Tuesday at Wembley, a Spain side coming off two knockout rounds that went to extra time against Croatia and Switzerland.
“We had no minimum target. We just wanted to do our best. There are still two games to go, we’ll see what happens.
“Let us enjoy this victory, then we can think about Spain. Congratulations to the lads, they did a great job.”