That’s it for tonight’s liveblog, but we’ll have Sid Lowe’s match report on the site in the next few minutes. Goodnight!
Full time: Italy 1-2 Spain
Spain are through to the Nations League final! Italy’s long unbeaten run has come to an end, though they should take plenty of pride in their second-half performance. It was decided in the first half, when Ferran Torres scored two terrific goals and Leonardo Bonucci was sent off. Spain, who were seriously impressive, will play either France or Belgium in Sunday’s final.
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90+5 min The free-kick is overhit and Unai Simon claims.
90+5 min Laporte is belatedly penalised for the challenge, which means a free-kick to Italy, 40 yards from goal. This is their last chance...
90+4 min Kean is down after being flattened by Laporte, who towered over him to head a long ball whence it came.
90+3 min Spain have kept the ball superbly since Italy pulled a goal back.
90+2 min Di Lorenzo makes a great last-ditch tackle on Gil.
90+2 min Italy just can’t get the ball.
90 min Five minutes of added time.
89 min Oyarzabal is booked for something or other.
89 min This time Gil curls the corner into the middle and Pellegrini heads clear.
88 min Spain take the corner short so that they can keep the ball, and eventually they win another corner.
87 min Spain keep the ball for a minute or so before winning a corner on the right.
85 min Alonso’s dangerous cross shot is impressively cleared by Bastoni.
85 min Spain have brought on Sergi Roberto for Gavi.
That came out of nothing. Spain had a corner, and moments later Italy scored. It was cleared towards the halfway line, where the indecisive Pau Torres lost a 60/40 with Chiesa. He charged through on goal, drew the goalkeeper Simon and poked the ball to the right to give Pellegrini an open goal.
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GOAL! Italy 1-2 Spain (Pellegrini 83)
Italy are back in it!
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81 min Locatelli is booked for a hack at Pino.
80 min Pino has a shot blocked by Emerson.
78 min: Chance for Spain! The marvellous Pino dances past a couple of defenders and plays an imaginative, angled through pass to Alonso, whose crisp sidefoot is excellently saved low to his left by Donnarumma.
77 min A quiet few minutes. Spain are happy to pass the clock down.
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74 min Two more changes for Spain. Bryan Gil and Mikel Merino replace Koke and Sarabia.
72 min Another Italy change: Davide Calabria replaces Barella.
71 min Italy try to get Pino in trouble after a collision with Locatelli. There wasn’t much in it, but Pino is booked.
69 min Yeremi Pino has been very impressive since coming on. He’s so relaxed and confident in possession, especially when he runs at defenders. Of all Spain’s brilliant teenagers - and they have a few - he might become the best.
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68 min Gavi surges into the area and then goes over. It looked like a dive, in truth, and the referee waved him up.
67 min Italy have done well to stay in the game, just about, at 2-0. Now all they have to do is score one goal, and then another. But first they need to get the ball off Spain.
65 min Sarabia is booked for a foul on Chiellini.
64 min A change for Italy: Lorenzo Pellegrini replaces Jorginho.
63 min: Chance from Oyaraabal! Pino beats Emerson with ease on the right and stands up a lovely cross that is headed just wide by Oyarzabal at the far post. He should have scored.
61 min Chiesa smashes a shot against the post... and then the flag goes up for offside. It was very tight, mind you, so it might have counted had he scored.
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58 min A double change for Italy: Moise Kean and Manuel Locatelli replace Verratti and Insigne.
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57 min Oyarzabal turns Di Lorenzo in the area and tees up Koke, whose shot is blocked. Oyarzabal has been majestic.
56 min At the moment, Italy can watch but not take part. Spain are passing the ball around for fun, literally.
55 min The impressive Oyarzabal’s shot on the run takes a double deflection and goes behind for a corner.
53 min The substitute Pino is playing on the right, with Sarabia replacing Torres as the false nine.
51 min This could be a miserable second half for Italy. It’s hard enough playing against Spain when it’s 0-0 and 11v11, never mind when you are one man and two goals down.
49 min A change for Spain: Ferran Torres is surprisingly replaced by Yeremi Pino, the 18-year-old from Villarreal. Spain could have a helluva team in five years time.
47 min Jorginho is a bit fortunate not to be booked after flattening Ferran Torres.
46 min Peep peep! Italy begin the second half. Lorenzo Insigne is now playing up front.
Italy are making a half-time substitution. Giorgio Chiellini is coming on to replace Federico Bernadeschi (and Leonardo Bonucci).
Half-time reading
Half time: Italy 0-2 Spain
Peep peep! Spain are cruising into the Nations League final. The prolific Ferran Torres scored two fine goals to stun Italy, who are down to 10 men after their captain Leonardo Bonucci received a second yellow card. Italy’s world-record unbeaten run is surely going to end at 37 games.
Ferran Torres gets his second, and it was a beautiful team goal! Again it came down the left, where Alonso clipped a neat pass to Sarabia in the area. He cushioned it on the volley to Oyarzabal, who flipped a languid first-time cross towards the far post. Torres pulled away from Emerson, strained his neck muscles and steered a header back across Donnarumma.
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GOAL! Italy 0-2 Spain (F Torres 45+1)
Spain are heading into the Nations League final!
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45 min One minute of added time.
44 min Azpilicueta is booked for blocking Emerson.
42 min Bonucci led with the arm as he jumped for a high ball with Busquets, who was caught on the neck and then made the usual meal of it. Hmm, I can see why the referee gave him a second yellow but it feels a bit soft, especially as the first booking was for dissent.
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BONUCCI IS SENT OFF!
41 min Bonucci, the Italy captain, has been given a second yellow card for elbowing Busquets, who rolled over 48 times to ensure he got the decision he wanted. We haven’t seen a replay so I’ve no idea whether the referee was correct.
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37 min Now Spain break three on three. Gavi fractionally overhits his pass to Oyarzabal, who screws a left-footed shot towards goal. Donnarumma gets down smartly to his left to make a relatively comfortable save.
35 min: Insigne misses a great chance! Italy should be level. Emerson charges down the left and slides an inviting low cross to the unmarked Insigne, 15 yards out. He allows the ball to run across his body but then sidefoots it wide of the far post.
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34 min: Bernadeschi hits the post! This is turning into a cracking game. Bernadeschi ran onto a long pass down the right, hugging the ball on his left foot as he moved into the area. He shaped to cross and then cracked a sly shot towards the near post that Simon, plunging to his left, pushed onto the post.
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31 min “Who’d be a ref with this lot?” says Duncan Edwards.
30 min Insigne eschews the shot and instead plays a disguised pass towards Barella in the area. Gavi again does well defensively, getting between Barella and the ball to draw a foul. Bonucci complains about the decision and is booked. There’s some burgeoning needle in this game.
29 min Gavi fouls Verratti 25 yards from goal. The free-kick is to the left of centre, and Insigne wants it.
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27 min Insigne’s inswinging corner is headed wide of the near post by the stooping Di Lorenzo. It was a tricky chance as he was in front of the near post.
27 min Insigne plays a disguised through pass to Verratti, who is diligently tracked by Gavi. Corner to Italy...
25 min Spain have had 65 per cent of the possession so far.
21 min Spain are giving Italy a bit of a chasing here. Alonso is having a terrific game on the left.
19 min: Alonso hits the post! It’s all Spain at the moment. After a couple of shots are blocked, Alonso hooks the bouncing ball towards goal from the edge of the area. It slips straight through Donnarumma’s fingers and onto the post, with Bonucci doing brilliantly to beat Koke to the rebound and shovel it out for a corner. He could easily have scored an own goal there.
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Alonso played a simple ball down the left to Oyarzabal, who hammered a flat cross into the middle. It came quickly and at awkward height to Ferran Torres, who adjusted his body like a piece of Playdoh to cushion a volley into the far corner.
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GOAL! Italy 0-1 Spain (F Torres 17)
Spain take the lead with a terrific goal!
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16 min Donnarumma, whose move to PSG didn’t go down well in these parts, is being booed by the Milan crowd every time he touches the ball.
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16 min Spain are having some joy down their left, with Alonso and Sarabia combining well on two or three occasions.
14 min It was Bastoni who blocked the shot, so well done him.
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13 min: Chance for Spain! Alonso plays another good pass to the underlapping Sarabia on the left side of the area. He looks up and picks out Oyarzabal, whose first-time shot is crucially blocked by an Italian defender. No, I don’t know which one.
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11 min Alonso beats Chiesa on the halfway line through sleight of hip and plays a good pass into Sarabia. He tries to go past Di Lorenzo and is dispossessed.
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10 min No sign of nerves from Gavi, who has had a few simple touches in midfield. Seventeen years old.
8 min The match is starting to settle down as we expected - lots of deliberate passing from Spain interspersed with dynamic bursts from Italy.
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6 min Barella galumphs forward from midfield, plays a quick one-two and shoots straight at Simon from 25 yards.
5 min Emerson wins the ball and high up the field and gives it to Chiesa, 25 yards out. He hits an excellent shot with his right foot that is pushed away by Simon, sprawling to his right.
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3 min Nothing much to report yet. Both teams have lined up as expected, with Ferran Torres and Federico Bernadeschi playing as false nines.
1 min Amid a pulsating atmosphere in Milan, and only five minutes later than advertised, Spain kick off from right to left.
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The last time Italy lost at home in a competitive match, Gavi was -4 years old.
Leonardo Bonucci and Sergio Busquets lead their teams onto the field. Cesar Azpilicueta, laser-focused as ever, looks like he wants to clean someone’s clock.
Spain played very well in that semi-final at Wembley, and had nearly 70 per cent of the possession. It’ll be interesting to see whether they can dominate to the same extent while effectively playing away from home.
Team news
The Barcelona midfielder Gavi becomes Spain’s youngest-ever international. What were you doing at the age of 17 years 62 days?
The Italy manager Roberto Mancini prefers Alessandro Bastoni at centre-back, with Giorgio Chiellini on the bench.
Italy (4-3-3) Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Bonucci, Bastoni, Emerson; Barella, Jorginho, Verratti; Chiesa, Bernadeschi, Insigne.
Substitutes: Sirigu, Meret, Chiellini, Calabria, Locatelli, L Pellegrini, Raspadori, Berardi, Dimarco, Acerbi, Cristante, Kean.
Spain (4-3-3) Simon; Azpilicueta, Laporte, Pau Torres, Alonso; Koke, Busquets, Gavi; Sarabia, Ferran Torres, Oyarzabal.
Substitutes: de Gea, Sanchez, Inigo Martinez, Bryan Gil, Pino, Sergi Roberto, Eric Garcia, Reguilon, Pedro Porro, Rodri, Fornals, Merino.
Referee Sergei Karasev (Russia).
Gavi starts. Wow.
— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) October 6, 2021
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to live, minute-by-minute(ish) coverage of Italy v Spain at San Siro. You could be forgiven for not knowing chapter and verse about the 2020-21 Nations League, so here’s a peedie refresher: Italy, Spain, France and Belgium qualified for the finals tournament by finishing top of their groups in League A, and on Sunday night one of them will succeed Portugal as Nations League winners. Confused? Splendid. Now all I need is are the three digits on the back of your card.
The tournament is taking place in Italy, specifically at San Siro and the Allianz Stadium in Turin. France and Belgium meet tomorrow in a repeat of the 2018 World Cup semi-final. Tonight’s game is a repeat of the Euro 2020 semi-final, in which Italy suffered an almighty fright before winning on penalties.
Italy went on to win the tournament, as you may not remember. As well as being European champions, they are world-record holders: they haven’t lost for 37 matches, the longest unbeaten run in international football history. Spain were their toughest opponents at the Euros, though, and have one of the more exciting young teams in world football. Lest we forget - and I’ll be honest, I had - they plugged Germany 6-0 en route to the Nations League finals.
It’s not the World Cup, it’s not the European Championship. But nor is it international football’s answer to the Intertoto Cup. Let’s be clear: to those involved, this really matters.
Kick off 7.45pm BST, 8.45pm in Milan.
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