[ad_1]
Key events
A bit of pre-match reading. Courtesy of the good doctor.
Spain made one change to their starting line-up after their 3-0 win over Croatia. Aymeric Laporte takes Nacho’s place in defence.
Italy remain unchanged after their 2-1 win over Albania. No big surprise: this opening group win was their fourth in their last five games.
The teams
Spain: Simon, Carvajal, Le Normand, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodry, Fabian, Yamal, Morata, Williams.
Subs: Raya, Vivian, Merino, Joselu, Olmo, Torres, Grimaldo, Remiro, Baena, Zubimendi, Oyarzabal, Jesus Navas, Lopez, Perez, Nacho.
Italy: Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Calafiori, Dimarco, Fratesi, Jorginho, Barella, Chiesa, Scamaca, Pellegrini.
Subs: Buongiorno, Gatti, Raspadori, Vicario, Darmian, Bellanova, Cristante, Mancini, Reteghi, Zaccani, Fagioli, El Shaarawy, Cambiaso, Foloruncho, Meret.
Referee: Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).
Preamble
It is European championship finals, so of course it has to be Spain v Italy. This is the fifth consecutive final in which these two giants of European football meet. Spain defeated the Azzurri in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008, then beat them 4-0 in the final of Euro 2012, a record-breaking victory on the show as they became the first team to retain the European Championship. Italy have since bounced back, beating La Roja in the round of 16 at Euro 2016 and then the semi-finals en route to winning Euro 2020.
Go back a little further and there are other major tournament showdowns that Spain would prefer to ignore: Italy triumphed in the quarter-finals of the 1934 and 1994 World Cups and knocked them out of their groups at Euro 80 and Euro 88. However, Spain has a slight edge in the overall record, with 13 wins to 11 losses in 40 matches.
So Italy had Spain’s numbers more often in tournaments but Spain have the most wins of all time and also beat Italy in the final. Good luck guessing then who will take control of Group B in Gelsenkirchen tonight. It starts at 20:00. It’s on!
[ad_2]
