Paul Wilson’s report on a manic, memorable match is below. Thanks for your company. I’ll leave you with one last email. “Ridiculously,” says Matt Dony, “I’m watching this thinking ‘In the final, I fancy Wales’ chances against Italy more than Spain...’
The other good news for Italy is that, of all the players on a yellow card, only Thiago Motta was booked and will miss the Germany game. And of course, they get delicious rewenge for the 4-0 thrashing in the final four years ago. Whatever happens in the rest of the tournament, they’ll be talking about this match for decades.
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“Spain’s away kits look like they were pegged by a Starburst cannon,” says Zaharo Tsekouras. “Amazing in theory but in reality deceptive in that there is a preponderance of the much-loathed Lemon-flavour Starburst.”
Apparently that is their eighth consecutive defeat at a major tournament when wearing white. Bizarre.
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“Catenaccio 2-0 Talent,” says Pete Mumola. “In case the smug editors of El Mundo (courtesy of Sid Lowe’s fine piece on this rivalry) missed the scoreline for tomorrow’s paper.”
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What a brilliant, compelling game that was. The short story is that Italy did a number on Spain, though there were so many fascinating elements to it. Italy are all celebrating in front of their fans; Buffon has a huge smile plastered on his face.
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Full time: Italy 2-0 Spain
After eight years as European champions, Spain are out! They played better in the second half, but it was a rousing and fully deserved victory for Italy.
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90+4 min Chiellini shrieks in pain after a tackle from Johan Neeskens Silva, who is booked.
90+3 min Conte’s celebration will be coming to a Vine near you any minute now. He charged around the technical area, his black suit flapping in the breeze, and then tried to clamber on top of the dug out to clench his fist to the Italian fans. It must be pretty good to be a Chelsea fan right now, and unbelievably good to be an Italy fan.
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Graziano Pelle completes a wonderful victory for Italy. With all the players attracted to the left side, Insigne drilled a majestic crossfield pass to Darmian on the right. He moved into the area and stabbed a low cross that was deflected up to Pelle, and he volleyed it in from a few yards.
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GOAL! Italy 2-0 Spain (Pelle 90+2)
It’s all over now!
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90+1 min There will be four added minutes.
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90 min Oh what a save from Buffon! The free-kick resulting from Motta’s left hook was drilled long and headed towards the six-yard box. Pique got there first and stretched to cushion a volley towards goal that was brilliantly tipped away by the plunging Buffon. Magnificent stuff!
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89 min In a surprising development, Thiago Motta is booked. It was for a foul on Pedro. He’ll miss the quarter-final if Italy get there. Spain are really unhappy about something – and quite right actually, because Motta gave Pedro a left-hander! Busquets was also booked for complaining.
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88 min “Nice to see Pedro get the chance to end his strop from the bench,” says Ian Copestake. “Inspirational team player.”
87 min Andres Iniesta’s first mistake since 2004 almost leads to a goal. He miscontrolled the ball to Silva, who played a delicious low cross that nicked off the foot of Barzagli and just escaped the stretching Pedro a few yards from goal.
86 min The winners, as you probably know, face Germany on Saturday evening.
85 min Italy break, and Insigne’s wobbling long-range shot is straight at De Gea and beaten away.
84 min Italy’s last substitution: the superb Florenzi, who looks a serious player, is replaced by Matteo Darmian, who I regard as the greatest full-back in history.
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83 min “I haven’t seen it asked yet,” says Pete Mumola, “but who would win a cage match between these two high octane black clad coaches?” I’m sorry, Pete, but we don’t encourage cage fighting at the Guardian.
81 min Spain’s final substitution: the substitute Aduriz off, Pedro on. Aduriz is limping, so I don’t think it’s a sub-being-subbed embarrassment. And now a substitution for Italy, with Lorenzo Insigne replacing the terrific Eder.
80 min Spain do have a Plan B, in the tall Aduriz, though if they get out of this I suspect it will be because of tiki or taka. Italy are under incessant pressure now.
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79 min Italy have had 25 per cent possession in the last 15 minutes. They can’t get out, or maybe they are too tired to get out.
78 min “Yellow cards aren’t wiped until after the quarterfinal games,” says J.R. Ach, thanks, my mistake. That means England Iceland or France could end up playing Italy Reserves in the semi-final: more than half their 23-man squad are currently on a yellow card.
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76 min A technically beautiful volley from Iniesta, 20 yards out, is too straight and punched away by Buffon, who smiles in appreciation of Iniesta’s quality. He does seem like a damn fine human being, Buffon, and thirty seconds later he springs to his right to beat away a stinging 20-yard snap-shot from Pique. It was a spectacular but essentially straightforward save for somebody as good as him.
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75 min Conte, annoyed at Giaccherini miscontrolling the ball for a throw-in, uses his black suede shoes to hoof the ball down the touchline in disgust. He is magnificent. What fun we’re going to have next season with all the galactico managers.
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74 min Lucas hits the post after a lovely through ball from Fabregas (I think), though it didn’t matter as he had been rightly offside.
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73 min So far, Italy have no suspensions for a potential quarter-final, though eight of their XI are on a yellow – six from before the game, two during it. The cards are wiped at the end of this round though.
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71 min Juanfran’s flighted cross towards the head of Aduriz is punched away by Buffon, but Spain get a corner a few seconds later. Fabregas’s outswinger is met by Ramos, whose header drifts a few yards wide. He might have done better there, such is his finishing ability.
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69 min The ball is coming back at Italy all the time at the moment. Fabregas’s brilliant low pass from the left is dummied by Iniesta and swept not far wide by Aduriz, 16 yards from goal. Moments later, Morata is replaced by Lucas Vazquez.
66 min “Italy are slowing down, late to the ball,” says Rick McGahey. “Wonder if they have energy to see this out.” If they don’t, they’ll regret those missed chances, especially Eder’s.
65 min Some old-fashioned tiki-taka from Italy – surely it’s time for the BBC to do I Love 2012 – but then Iniesta’s pass goes astray. This is splendidly tense, though I’ve a feeling we might get a red card soon.
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61 min How did Italy not score there? Eder, who is having a magnificent game, rode a tackle on the edge of the box and found Di Sciglio to his left. His low first-time cross slithered through De Gea at the near post, but he got away it because it went to a Spanish defender rather than an Italian attacker.
60 min Morata’s imaginative volleyed lob goes well wide. But Spain are right back in what has become a cracking game.
59 min It’s getting lively now. Eder is shoved over by Pique – and the referee waves play on. When play does stop, both sets of players have a lively exchange of views, and Conte goes ballistic on the touchline.
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58 min Aduriz has a nosebleed; I’m not sure why. Somewhere in the world, Mauro Tassotti’s face breaks into a smile.
55 min The genius of David de Gea keeps Spain in the tournament. Pelle’s marvellous back-flick, 40 yards from goal, allowed Eder to scamper beyond the defence and eventually into the area. He made good contact with his shot but De Gea stood tall and spread himself to make a brilliant block with his breadbasket. Eder will feel he should have scored, mind you.
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54 min Pelle is booked for trying to head the ball. It was ridiculous, and the result of risible playacting from Fabregas, who went down holding his face. Pelle wasn’t on a yellow before the game – though he almost received a second yellow moments later for a clumsy tackle on Busquets. The referee makes the universal sign for ‘no more’.
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53 min Silva, 18 yards out, passes when he should shoot and the opportunity is lost. Italy are under the pump, and Thiago Motta is coming on for De Rossi. That must be an injury because De Rossi has been superb.
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51 min Italy are under significant pressure all of a sudden. A dangerous inswinging free-kick breaks to Pique, whose effort is blocked a few yards from goal by the backpedalling Chiellini, whose nose smells danger better than most. We’ve just seen the Morata chance again; he was so busy shoving an Italian defender out of the way that he mistimed his heading motion and the ball came off his shoulder. That’s why it went so tamely into Buffon’s hands.
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50 min “Cesc Fabregas peaked before he was 25,” says Christopher Faherty. “He’s never developed into the controlling midfielder everyone thought he was going to become. He was pushed forward towards the end at Arsenal. False-nine type at Barcelona. He’s been doing shag-all controlling for Chelsea over the last eighteen months and plays more like an Alonso than a Xavi type anyway. Curious player really.”
49 min Bonucci is penalised for handball, so Spain have a free-kick on the right wing. Silva’s inswinger is headed behind for a corner by De Rossi. It’s taken short and curled in to the unmarked Morata, who plants a header straight at Buffon from only six yards. That was a glorious chance!
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47 min “I’m in Germany at the mo’ and they’ve just advertised the England game in big letters: ENGLAND - ISLAND.,” says Steve Pine. “Took a while to realise German TV weren’t making an oddly timed political point.”
46 min Italy fly out of the traps again. Florenzi breaks into the box on the right and drills a dangerous low cross that Pique pokes behind for a corner. It’s another dangerous one that Ramos clears on the six-yard line.
46 min Bing bong! Italy begin the second half, kicking from right to left.
Half-time substitution for Spain Nolito off, the 35-year-old Aduriz on. Presumably Morata will play from the left now.
We’ve just seen the goal again. De Gea did try to push it away from goal but screwed it out in front. It was all a bit weird – Pique and Iniesta weren’t even looking at the ball, De Gea wasn’t quite ready, there was a big gap in the wall right in line with the centre of the goal. Spain may have to take collective responsibility on that one.
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Half-time emails
“I’m sure a bazillion people have contacted you to tell you that Liverpool won the League, European Cup and League Cup in 1983/4,” says Andrew. “Or Canon League, European Cup and Milk Cup, in fact.” (Isn’t that a treble rather than a Treble?)
“What do you think of Spain’s white uniforms?” says Jim Rogers. “Up close, it makes me think they were hit with an autumn colours paintball.”
“The 34th minute’s Johnny Morris is dead wrong about de Gea,” says Mac Millings. “It was a textbook Great Save. He a) went down low and b) beat it off with c) a strong wrist. What I like to call ‘the single man’s Treble’.”
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Half-time reading
Half time: Italy 1-0 Spain
Bing bong! That 45 minutes flew by. At the moment, the team with the plan are doing an emphaitc number on the team with the philosophy. Italy are 1-0 up, and it would be two or three but for David de Gea. They have been terrific; Spain have been pretty ordinary, or maybe pretty/ordinary. See you in 10 minutes.
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More reading
45 min De Gea keeps Spain in the match with another stunning save. Giaccherini vroomed infield from the left, past two defenders, and then whipped a right-footed curler towards the far corner. De Gea flew high to his left, strained the necessary sinews, tipped it over the bar with his right hand and instantly dedicated the save to Paul Morris.
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43 min Whatever happened to that Cesc Fabregas?
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41 min “Much as I appreciate all del Bosque has done for both Spain and Real Madrid, this game typifies why it is time for him to start enjoying his golden retirement years,” says Gene Salorio. “Spain may get lucky and pull it out but he’s been totally out-thought by Conte.”
What is he, 65? The game’s left him behind. Bet he voted Leave an’ all.
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40 min Nolito is booked for a late tackle on De Rossi. Iniesta, as Danny Murphy says on the BBC, is the only one who is on it for Spain.
38 min “As a Chelsea fan I was very dubious about the appointment of Conte, but right now I am very pleased,” says James Pavitt. “This guy is seriously good and I really like his excitement when Italy score. He may need to refresh the squad a bit though.”
Oh he will. And of those still at the club, nobody of sound mind will take even a single liberty with him. He is good tactically but, like almost all the great managers, his biggest strength is man-management.
36 min Italy aren’t just hungry; they’re ravenous. Pelle slides through Iniesta, giving Spain a foul 35 yards from goal. Nothing comes of it. Italy have been far superior in this match.
34 min “I’m afraid I’m going to have to disagree with you on De Gea’s save, Rob,” says Paul Morris. “It was athletic at best and hyped beyond belief, much like this tournament. It hasn’t exactly been rock ‘n’ roll football this summer, has it? More like easy listening football, despite the punk haircuts. But I suppose that’s the way of the world these days. We all look forward to reading your abbreviated Joy of Six: Zlatan’s Appearance In Euro 2016 once he signs for United.”
GOAL! Italy 1-0 Spain (Chiellini 33)
Italy take a deserved lead. Eder smashed a low free-kick that was saved but not held by the diving De Gea. It rebounded to the six-yard line, where an Italian player (not sure who) flicked it up before being tripped by the outsretched leg of De Gea. Before anyone could appeal for a penalty, Chiellini had charged in to score from a few yards. Spain had a really weird wall there, with nobody covering the centre of the goal. De Gea might have pushed it away from goal, though I suspect it was too tight to his body for that.
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31 min De Rossi, who has had a terrific half, sprays another nonchalant 50-yards pass to spark a passing move that ends with Pelle being fouled from behind by Ramos. It’s a free-kick to Italy, fractionally outside the D. And it leads to a goal for Italy!
29 min De Sciglio’s dangerous low cross from the left is shanked wide of his own goal by Ramos on the six-yard line. That could have gone anywhere; it went behind for a corner. Florenzi swings it onto the six-yard line, where Pique leans over De Rossi to head it behind for another corner. Italy look really dangerous from set pieces, though the second corner leads to a free-kick for Spain.
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28 min A Spain corner is played back to Iniesta, who throttles a low shot straight at Buffon. He is starting to influence the game a little more.
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27 min “I think the 7th minute’s Male Escort (I think that was his name) must be referring, when using “the Treble” in a Liverpool context, to the time they won 3 cup competitions in one season,” says Mac Millings. “Come now, Mr. Escort, if you could just give that title to anything you had done three times, I could use the existence of my three children to call the proven occasions on which I’d had private intimacy with my good lady wife ‘the Treble’. And from now on, I shall.”
26 min Morata holds his face after wearing a pretty firm elbow from Parolo. We can’t be sure whether it was deliberate, but it was certainly a strong contact. Spain ask for a yellow card, but sometimes you don’t get what you want in this life.
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25 min Parolo misses a good chance for Italy! It was a lovely counter-attack, sparked by Bonucci. Eventually De Rossi played it wide to De Sciglio, whose deep inswinging cross was headed wide by the later arriving Parolo, who was about ten yards from goal. At first I thought he should have scored, though the replays showed he had to stretch a bit and that’s why it drifted wide of the far post.
24 min De Sciglio is booked for stopping a one-two by pulling someone’s shirt. He wasn’t on a yellow card before the game.
23 min Morata wins Spain’s first corner. It’s played short to Iniesta and curled to the far post, where Ramos goes over under challenge from Chiellini. There was a bit of contact, with Chiellini holding his arm, though Ramos did exaggerate his fall.
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21 min “You wouldn’t want it to be Gene Kelly weather,” says Marie Meyer. “The precipitation in the titular scene from “Singing in the Rain” was milk so that it would show up better on film.”
It’s brightened up now, I should have said that. I would have said that if I was doing my job properly.
20 min Spain’s best attack. Nolito combines with Silva and then, from the left edge of the box, picks out an excellent pass to Fabregas in the D. He takes a touch and larrups a shot towards goal that is well blocked by De Sciglio.
19 min “Spain are all tiki, no taka,” says Thomas Coombes.
18 min That first De Gea save was so good. In fact it was similar to the first one from Peter Schmeichel here, though arguably better because he had to go lower.
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17 min I still think Spain will win because of their superior players, but at the moment this match looks like a team with a plan versus a team with a philosophy.
14 min Italy are rationing their attacks, but when they do attack it is in numbers and with real menace.
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13 min “As the risk of making myself sound like the most boring man watching the game,” begins Tim Minto, “I note that Fabregas kicked the kick off straight back to the Pique(?) - I was always under the impression the ball had to go forward first? Is my old age clouding my memory?”
They changed the laws. After all the criticism of lax governance, they’ve started dealing with the important stuff.
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11 min Another brilliant save from De Gea! Florenzi stood up a cross to the far post, where Pelle headed it back across the face. Giaccherini improvised to steer an overhead kick towards goal from eight yards, and De Gea got down to his left to fumble it onto the post. The referee actually gave a free-kick, presumably for high feet from Giaccherini, though that was a daft decision.
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8 min Juanfran is penalised for what looked a good tackle on Eder. Italy have a free-kick 30 yards from goal, in line with the left edge of the area. And it leads to a stunning save from De Gea! It was curled in towards the far post, where Pelle got above Busquets to thump a header towards the bottom corner from seven yards. De Gea demonstrates his amazing reflexes by plunging to his left to palm it round. That’s a wonderful save.
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7 min “Undoubtedly Conte’s competitive mind’s work is on display here: he’s trying to become the first manager who has more than 8 players suspended from the next game, judging by the amount of yellow cards on Italy’s squad,” says Laine Ascot. “If this is anything to go by (a must-win-everything mentality) then Liverpool and Man Utd better watch out or Chelsea will be joining them on the list of Prem teams with the Treble.” When did Liverpool win the Treble?
6 min Juanfran’s clearance comes to De Rossi 30 yards out. He shapes to shoot and then plays a clever pass to De Sciglio on the left. His ball into the box breaks to Eder, who is off balance and shoots straight at De Gea from 12 yards. It wasn’t much of a chance. But this has been a fine start from Italy.
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5 min Spain put together their first decent passing move ... and then Nolito slips over on the left wing.
3 min Eder, running onto Pelle’s through pass, slips over. The pitch is already greasy. The weather gods have decided they want a primal affair and are acting accordingly. It’s not just raining; this is John Cusack weather.
2 min A really fast start from Italy. First De Sciglio rampages down the left and puts in a cross that is too close to De Gea; then De Rossi’s huge crossfield pass finds the other wing-back Florenzi, whose cross is cleared by Ramos. It’s suddenly pelting down in Paris.
1 min Bing bong! Spain, in their hideous white change strip, kick off from right to left. Italy are in blue.
“It seems to me this game could either be a classic, with lots of intrepid attacking, clever defending and incisive passing, or a complete borefest, where sterile domination meets the art of sitting back and soaking up pressure,” says Kari Tulinius. “These are two teams which at their best are equally capable of being thrilling to watch, but both are prone to bore their audience into a frustrated rage. Let’s hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Enjoy the game (hopefully)!”
I suspect it’ll be a game of few chances – 1-0 either way – but buttock-clenchingly intense. What decent person would want it any other way?
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Here come the players. There’s a great atmosphere, as there has been at most of the games at this tournament.
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“I suspect that this is pushing at an open door, but can we start off with some more man-love of Andrès Iniesta?” writes Charles Antaki. “On top of the stunning control, the ability to turn in the space of a telephone box, the vision and accuracy of passing, the Zen calm, there’s the charm of a) not looking much like a footballer; b) being apparemtly immune to fashion; c) having a decent other life (as a local winemaker) and d) being, so far as one can tell, a decent person. Of course he may have an utter stinker today and be sent off for nutting someone, but still.”
And if we were ever to do the Joy of Six: big-game players, he’d be the top entry. If you don’t like Iniesta, you don’t like football.
While we wait for this humdinger to begin, here’s something I wrote about why #Rashford might be a genius. Read, retweet, give me dogs’ abuse on social media.
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Here’s our guide to the Stade de France, where tonight’s contest shall occur.
Pre-match reading
Players on a yellow card
Italy Buffon, Chiellini, Barzagli, De Rossi, Eder, Bonucci, Sirigu, Zaza, Motta, Insigne.
Spain Ramos.
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Team news
Italy make seven changes from the team that lost to the Republic of Ireland; Spain are unchanged, as they have been throughout the tournament.
Italy (3-1-4-2) Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; De Rossi; Florenzi, Parolo, Giaccherini, Di Sciglio; Pelle, Eder.
Subs: Sirigu, Marchetti, Darmian, Ogbonna, Candreva, Zaza, Motta, Immobile, Sturaro, Insigne, Bernardeschi, El Shaarawy.
Spain (4-1-2-3) De Gea; Juanfran, Pique, Ramos, Jordi Alba; Busquets; Fabregas, Iniesta; Silva, Morata, Nolito.
Subs: Casillas, Rico, Azpilicueta, Bartra, Koke, Lucas Vazquez, Pedro, Bellerin, Thiago, San Jose, Bruno, Aduriz.
Referee Cuneyt Cakir (Turkey)
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Hello
Sunday 24 June 1990 was a unique day in World Cup history. Diego Maradona vaccinated Brazil; Frank Rijkaard treated Rudi Voller to a flob-and-go; Jurgen Klinsmann did the work of two men. The matches that day were Brazil v Argentina and West Germany v the Netherlands, two of the mightiest contests in world football. Yet they were played not in the semis but the last 16, due to Argentina and the Netherlands finishing third in their groups. The games were almost too momentous to function.
This is what happens when superpowers meet before the quarter-final of a major tournament, because the last eight is par and elimination before that is as unthinkable as killing off your lead character in the second act. For those teams who are killed off, the misery of metaphorical death is infinitely greater when it’s inflicted by hated rivals, as it was for Brazil and the Netherlands in 1990.
Italy and Spain don’t have a rivalry to compare with those mentioned above, but their relationship has been on the feisty side ever since Mauro Tassotti turned USA 94 into a Tarantino set. We can’t promise that there will be blood, but we can promise that the losers won’t go quietly.
They will enter quietly, and with a degree of caution – Italy because Spain tonked them 4-0 in the final of this competition four years ago; Spain because Italy are Italy again. Spain have the better players, most notably Andres Iniesta, the first man to perfect football, but Italy’s teamwork is impressive and their back three and goalkeeper have been keeping clean sheets together for club and country since 1928.
Italy must feel pretty aggrieved about all this. Their reward for winning the toughest group in the competition is a match against Spain, with Germany and Iceland or France waiting after that. The team they beat, Belgium, get Hungary, Wales and Portugal or Poland. That, right there, is some dumb luck.
Kick off is at 5pm in England, 6pm at the Stade de France.
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