Italy beats Belgium 2-1, advances to Euro 2020 semifinals
Munich, Jul 03 (AP): Italy’s defenders celebrated their stops like the attacking players celebrated their goals.
Both had plenty of reason to be happy on Friday.
Nicol Barella and Lorenzo Insigne scored a goal each while Leonardo Spinazzola make a key second-half block to give Italy a 2-1 win over Belgium and a spot in the European Championship semifinals.
Everyone, myself included, is really playing with a smile on their faces, said Insigne, whose team extended its national record unbeaten run to 32 games.
Romelu Lukaku kept his team in the game with a penalty right before halftime but the Belgians missed further chances to equalize in the second half as Italy’s defenders excelled.
Barella put Italy in the lead in the 31st minute when Jan Vertonghen failed to properly clear the ball. Marco Verratti passed to Barella, who eluded two Belgium defenders before sending it in off the far post.
Insigne got the second in the 44th when he put a curling shot inside the far top corner after skipping past one defender and facing two more.
Belgium was awarded the penalty when Giovanni Di Lorenzo pushed Jeremy Doku shortly before halftime. Lukaku then made it 2-1 by sending his shot down the middle. It was only the second goal Italy has conceded at the tournament.
I didn’t see the penalty,” Italy coach Robert Mancini said.
“The defense told me it was rather cheap, but that aside, it was very important to produce a top-class performance, and we did just that.
Italy will next play Spain in the semifinals on Tuesday at Wembley Stadium in London. The Spanish defeated Switzerland on penalties in St. Petersburg.
We will now savor this moment. We’ll try and rest up because it will be another tough match, Mancini said.
In the second half, Spinazzola just did enough to deny Lukaku on the line with what seemed to be a certain equalizer when Kevin De Bruyne played the ball to the far post. Spinazzola was kissed by his grateful teammates, but he was later carried off on a stretcher with a leg injury. We’ll try and go all the way in this tournament, above all for him, because Spinazzola has been a crucial component of this team, Insigne said.