LONDON - Italy have earned themselves a place in the final of the 2020 European Championships with a win over Spain on penalties, but not before a gruelling 120 minutes of football that saw plenty of chances go amiss for both sides, and Spain arguably the more dominant side.

  Tuesday night’s match, the first of the two semifinals, was held at a Wembley stadium with almost 58,000 fans, one of the largest turnouts for a English sporting event since the start of the pandemic. Both sides had complained before the match about the lack of respective national fans allowed into the stadium, and although fans were in loud voice throughout, providing a great atmosphere of support for both teams, there were moments in which it became obvious that many of the tickets had gone to opportunistic English fans seizing on the increased attendance and tough travel circumstances, with sections of the stadium breaking out into a rousing rendition of “Football’s Coming Home.”

  With the football underway, the first half was one dominated by Spain. Throughout the tournament they have had the highest average possession of any team, and this match wasn’t any different, though they were up against a much tougher defence. 

  Italy were happy to sit back and defend, however they didn’t look as comfortable in defence as they have previously, and when they had the opportunity to hit Spain on the counter attack they often fluffed their lines. 

 Both teams had a couple of chances in the first half, a brilliant run by Spain’s Dani Olmo earning him a shot at goal from close range - saved by the excellent Gianluigi Donnarumma - and Italy’s Emerson Palmieri hitting the cross bar from a tight angle, but neither team ever really seemed like scoring, the defences proving too much.

  The second half both teams began to really throw themselves at it and the game developed into exciting goal to goal football. It was Italy to break the deadlock first, with a goal, unsurprisingly, from a counterattack.

  Donnarumma started the move from a Spain attack that came to nothing, rolling the ball out to Marco Verratti, out to Insigne on the wing and almost immediately a pass to Ciro Immobile put him through on goal. Aymeric Laporte made an excellent tackle but the ball fell to Federico Chiesa, who only need three touches before curling it into the far corner.

  Just three minutes later Spain were mere inches away from equalising, when Mikel Oyarzabal failed to get his head on a ball deftly lifted over the Italian defence by Koke. Any connection would undoubtedly have been in the back of the net.

  Spain finally got their deserved first goal in the 80th minute. A quick one-two by substitute Alvaro Morata and Dani Olmo cut through the Italian back line and Morata provided a neat finish past Donnarumma to make it 1-1 with ten minutes left of normal time.

  Extra time rolled on and though both sides were becoming desperate, fatigue was beginning to clearly show and no goals were forthcoming. The Spanish had the better chances in the final thirty minutes, and Italy were perhaps more willing to hold out for penalties after a couple of nervy, every-body-on-the-line moments in their penalty box.

  Penalty misses by Dani Olmo and Alvaro Morata (and Italy’s Manuel Locatelli) gave Jorginho the chance to win it for Italy with their fifth penalty. He looked confident and his signature hop didn’t fail him, burying it into the bottom corner.

  Spain looked better than they have done all tournament, having only won one match in 90 minutes (against Slovakia), and Italy didn’t look as assured as they have done in their previous matches, but in the end the Azzurri had the quality to secure victory.

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