Spain were the biggest test for Italy at the EURO 2020, as per Azzurri winger Federico Bernardeschi. Juventus footballer stressed that the European champions ‘will be ready’ for the semi-finals match of two teams as part of the UEFA Nations League.Roberto Mancini’s men will face the squad of Luis Enrique at San Siro on Wednesday while the other semi-finals clash between France and Belgium will happen a day later.Capped 35 times for his country, Bernardeschi knows what to expect against the Spaniards and the creative attacker hopes to see Italy’s unbeaten run extended to 38 games.“Spain are strong, they are the team that put us in most difficulty, in terms of the game. But we have shown how much we have grown over these three years, not only since EURO 2020 started. We will be ready.” Bernardeschi told the FIGC’s official channel.##NAJAVA_MECA_5874130##Three months ago, Italy managed to defeat Spain on penalties in the semi-final of the European Championship, a win which they followed with another victorious penalty shoot-out – at Wembley against England.“Giving continuity to the European Championship is fundamental. Playing this semi-final is a great feeling but being able to lift the trophy would be even more exciting.” Bernardeschi underlined. “The fans will give us an extra boost, everything is more beautiful.”An interesting fact is that for the first time since he joined Paris Saint-Germain, Gianluigi Donnarumma returns to San Siro, home of his former club AC Milan. Italy awaits this match with several injured players with Lazio’s Ciro Immobile probably being most missed.Azzurri’s quest for total dominance or consolation prize for Mbappe and LukakuSpain national team coach Luis Enrique revealed his footballers are motivated by the task in hand at the Giuseppe Meazza.Fabian Ruiz was left out from the squad and Alvaro Morata is injured, confirming that Ferran Torres could play a ‘false nine’.‘We have another opportunity to prove that we can win. They (Italy) are at the top,” Enrique said about the rematch against Italy on October 6. “They deserved to be champions and are continuing the streak of games unbeaten.”##NAJAVA_MECA_5874134##“As our psychologist says, the day will soon come when they lose. We play in a wonderful country and we have another opportunity to prove that we can win.” added Former Barcelona and Roma manager“We could have done it already at the European Championship and we weren’t able, now we’ll try again thinking that we can be the first to beat the European champions and the team that hasn’t lost in a lot of games.“It’s a top-level team, with a similar philosophy to ours. I don’t know who will be called up, they have injuries, but I hope it’s a spectacular match.”
