Spain 1-0 Italy: Masterful Spain dispatch Italy to qualify for knockout stages

Luis de la Fuente’s Spain became the second team to qualify for the round of 16 after an imperious performance over Italy.

They could only put the ball in the back of the net once and it wasn’t one of their own players who did so – but that doesn’t tell the whole story. An immense Spain stated their ambitions to go all the way this summer and, on this evidence, you’d be brave to bet against them.

As it happened

That was more like it, wasn’t it? That was a football match. That was a pair of teams who wanted to play and take the game to one another. Or, at least, there was one team who wanted to take the game to the other.

This was vintage Spain. This was Luis de la Fuente channelling his inner Vicente del Bosque to craft a Spanish outfit which transformed Pedri into Andrés Iniesta, Aymeric Laporte into Carles Puyol and Álvaro Morata into David Villa. It was a scintillating display, with la Roja living up to their name; they were, unequivocally, red hot.

All the talk after the statement victory over Croatia last week was that this was a new Spain. That game was the first in 136 (since their 1-0 win over Germany back in the final of EURO2008) that they didn’t keep the most possession. This time out, though, we saw the Spain we’re all accustomed to: a Spain with 60% possession and pass-masters taking control of the game and the sting out of their opponents.

To that end, Italy really were toothless. Their first half consisted of idle, hopeful long balls forward in an attacking sense (which, more often than not, Laporte had a headed answer to) and sitting back and hoping for the best in a defensive one.

How Spain didn’t score in the first half is a mystery. Pedri and Nico Williams both passed up huge headed opportunities in the opening ten minutes; both found themselves on the end of simply gorgeous deliveries from Williams himself and Morata respectively, both had acres of space and, in both cases, the ball rather bounced off their heads and wayward. Even if this team had the feel of the Spain sides of old, there was no Fernando Torres present.

But there was so much to be positive about. Fabián Ruiz picked up where he left off against Croatia and ran the show, trying his luck from outside the area no fewer than three times with his confidence levels brimming. Rodri channelled his inner Busquets, and Marc Cucurella played with the assuredness of Joan Capdevila and the attacking venom of Jordi Alba.

Perhaps the most notable meeting of these sides, at least in recent history, came twelve years ago, in the final of EURO2012. The Italy side that day had bested England on penalties after a 0-0 draw (make of that what you will) before taking Germany out of the equation in the semifinal stage. They had Andrea Pirlo, Antonio Di Natale, Gianluigi Buffon and Giorgi Chiellini. They were good – very good. Spain hammered them 4-0 in the final, and this game felt just like that day back in Kyiv – that’s how dominant de la Fuente’s side were today.

Come the second half, it was more of the same. Pedri, who missed the first big chance of the game, had the opportunity to make amends in the 52^nd minute, but again, he couldn’t find the net. It was guilt-edged just like the first, as Cucurella pulled it back to the Barcelona man who had all the space in the world, but eerily similarly, it seemed to just hit him before going wide. This time, though, he couldn’t blame his lack of heading proficiency; it was his typically assured left foot which missed the target.

However, on 55 minutes and after 12 shots which failed to beat Gianluigi Donnarumma, Spain scored – but it wasn’t one of their own players who landed the killer blow. Williams found space on the left, twisted, turned and sprayed a low cross into the corridor of uncertainty. Morata flicked it on with his head to make it more uncertain and, with Donnarumma beaten, it was the knee of Riccardo Calafiori which diverted it into the back of a gaping net.

It’s funny how things work: against Croatia, Spain didn’t play like Spain but were so clinical, it didn’t matter; against Italy, they painted the picture of modern Spanish football perhaps better than they have for over a decade, but needed an Italian final touch to finally get their goal.

But what about Italy? Well, they were unlucky not to see someone on the end of Andrea Cambiaso’s low cross in the 65^th minute and they did start to grow into the game as it went on, but despite a tad more possession, they looked not even half as clear in their direction as their opposite numbers.

On 70 minutes, Spain were desperately unlucky not to make it two; Nico Williams, involved again, as ever, cut onto his right foot just inside the Italy penalty area and looked to bend a vicious effort into the top corner. Gianluigi Donnarumma, to his credit, looked assured for an awful lot of Spanish chances, but he was beaten here – he was just lucky the crossbar intervened for him.

Moments later, Lamine Yamal was withdrawn, but for over an hour he the phenomenon we’ve become accustomed to. He can slalom, twist and manoeuvre in ways that would be enough to inflict twisted ankles on most of us mere mortals. He did it again against Italy and, although he couldn’t score his first goal of this competition, he stamped upon the European stage his authority yet again. Remember, this boy is 16 and just that: a boy. But, he’s also a star like few in recent memory.

You see, Spain may be playing like the sides they had in the 2010s, but they have weapons at their disposal that del Bosque’s teams never had and those weapons are on the wing. The electricity of Williams and Yamal is an asset that, as incredible as they were, the old squads just didn’t have. There have been players with footwork like David Silva and speed like Jesus Navas, but both rolled into one package makes a frightening prospect which opponents haven’t had to face when dealing with already technically brilliant Spanish sides. It’s a new dynamic and it makes them truly, truly frightening in all the best ways.

That typical assuredness left them a tad in the last ten minutes, with Italy starting to create chances and move the pall progressively – but it was too little, too late, and it was all in vain. An imperious Spain rode out the storm, took all three points and qualified for the knockout stages, just like those sides from yesteryear.

Italy were decidedly second best today but their fate is still in their own hands; a win against Croatia will see them through to the round of 16, but if they’re to retain their European crown, they’ll have to play an awful lot better than this display.

Today is a Spanish day though. Today saw maybe the tournament’s most dominant performance thus far and today they stated their intention, in no uncertain terms, to paint Europe red.

Whether they manage that or not remains to be seen though, but you can find out if they do along with everything else that happens at EURO2024 right here at FromTheSpot.

The lineups

ESP: Simón; Cucurella, Laporte, Le Normand, Carvajal; Fabián, Pedri; Williams, Morata, Yamal

ITA: Donnarumma; Dimarco, Calafiori, Bastoni, Di Lorenzo; Barella, Jorginho, Frattesi; Pellegrini, Scamacca, Chiesa