Italy is not a fluke. From the beginning of EURO 2020, Roberto Manchini’s men have proved they are playing the best football at the tournament, and are yet to play a bad game. Last night’s win against one of the favorites, Belgium, was another proof that Italy is definitely a team that could win the EURO for the first time since 1968. Along with their great football, Italy have established a new record for the longest winning sequence in the UEFA European Championship, qualifying included, after securing their 15th consecutive victory in the competition against Belgium.Italy edge Belgium in a spectacular encounter to book a semi-final place and a clash with SpainAnd coach Roberto Manchini was obviously satisfied with the effort of his players and the way they played, but also whished they scored their goal earlier. “We deserved the victory. The lads were extraordinary, and clearly we suffered in the last 10 minutes as we were really tired, but we could’ve scored more goals earlier. I didn’t see 25 minutes of struggle at the start. There were chances at both ends, it was an open game. We only struggled in the last 10 minutes when Belgium started playing a long ball game. We had no minimum target. We just wanted to do our best. There are still two games to go, we’ll see what happens. Let us enjoy this victory, then we can think about Spain. Congratulations to the lads, they did a great job” the coach told RAI Sport..@bonucci_leo19 & @chiellini are currently the best centre-backs in the world 👋🏻👋🏻 #experience #BELITA— Bastian Schweinsteiger (@BSchweinsteiger) July 2, 2021 And midfielder Marco Veratti praised Manchini for his specific style of football while admitting Italy now has an identity. “We have this specific style of football thanks to the coach and always play more or less the same way. We’ll give our best and see where we end up. We are very happy, because we worked hard to reach this objective and we were up against a great team that is one of the contenders for the title. We played open football, stood by our characteristics and had a great performance, so we are more than happy. This is a real team victory, we fought from the first to the 90th, and it’ll be another tough test with Spain” Verratti told RAI Sport.It was a ’when if not now’ tournament for this fantastic Belgium team, but it seems it will be another ’not now’ for the coach Roberto Martinez and a fantastic crop of players like Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, Yannick Carrasco, Christian Benteke, Toby Alderweireld and brothers Hazard, among others. They played good, came back from 0-1 deficit from Denmark and eliminated the current European champions Portugal, but it was not meant to be, Italy were better.🗣 | Kevin De Bruyne:”I played the five days after Portugal with a torn ankle ligament. It was a miracle that I was ready for the match. I tried to help the team, but it just wasn’t enough.”[@svenclaes] pic.twitter.com/dgAgjppbd2— City Chief (@City_Chief) July 2, 2021 They tried everything, and their top star – Kevin De Bruyne even played with a serious knee injury.„For me personally it has been four or five weird weeks. But I especially want to thank the medical staff. It was a miracle that I played today because there was definitely damage to my ankle. A tear in my ligaments. But I felt responsibility to play for my country today. Too bad I couldn’t do more. We lost against a top-notch team. We’ll try to win next time, at the World Cup, but first I have to recover physically. I’ve had too many (injury) problems in the last few years but I’ve always tried to give everything for the team“ he told UEFA after the game.Belgium and Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was disappointed after the elimination, but had to admit the fact that Italy was a better opponent.“This hits hard. But we knew it was going to be a tough game. We had two opportunities but their keeper made a good save and I think we gave the first goal away a bit to easily. It really could have gone either way, but Italy deserved to win here” Courtois told BBC after the game. Spain’s biggest fan Manolo breaths a sigh of relief as brave Switzerland finally lose on penaltiesItaly will now face Spain in the semi-finals, who played another overtime game in the knockout stage, but this time, they couldn’t score like they did against Croatia and had to survive the penalty scare. It was Swiss again, but this time, Vladimir Petkovic’s men have failed to make history once again. Basically they did everything by themselves in this match, as Zakaria scored an own goal before Shaqiri equalized in the 68th minute. When it came to penalties, Unai Simon saved two shots and enabled Spain to progress to the semi’s earning a player of the match award in the process. Bilbao keeper was humble, and even thought that opposite goalkeeper Sommer should be given the reward, since he had 9 saves in the game. “We were worthy winners. Now, just like we had to erase the memory of that mistake in the last match, it’s time to quickly forget this win, because we face a tough rival in the next round. We have to go into the semifinal fresh, confident and with our heads high. We have to win the Euros now” said Athletic Bilbao keeper. Unai Simon knew Yann Sommer deserved that MOTM award 🏆 pic.twitter.com/ZjK08IBEi2— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) July 2, 2021 Spain coach Luis Enrique, who takes the Red Fury into the last four of a major tournament for the first time since 2012, was happy with Simon’s performance.”It was the most relaxed penalty shootout I have experienced because everything had been worked on and I couldn’t do anything else. What was going to be was going to be. From there, I had complete confidence in Unai and in the penalty takers. It didn’t start off in the best way, but we came through. Simon had already demonstrated in the last game what he’s made of, but I am so delighted for him. And I imagine his family and friends enjoyed him being the hero of the game. If there is a team prepared to overcome adversities, it is ours. We are one of the four favourites to win the competition on our own merits. I said from the start we were among the eight favourites to win it, without exaggerating. Now we’re among the four best” said Enrique after the match.
