Italy take on Spain in the semi-finals of the European Championships on Tuesday and Roberto Mancini will be hoping to lead his side into the finals of the competition with a win.
Venue: Wembley Stadium
Key Statistics
Italy have won 14 of their last 15 matches (European Championship).
Spain are undefeated in their last 15 matches (European Championship).
Italy are undefeated in their last 8 home matches against Spain in all competitions.
Head to head
- In their latest six encounters: Spain 2 wins; Italy 1 win; 3 draws; Spain score 6 goals against 4 by Italy.
- Spain have won 12 matches out of a total of 34 games played between the two teams. Italy have won nine and the other 13 games have ended in a draw.
Latest Performances (Without Penalty shootout)
Italy: W-W-W-W-W-W (Goals for 15, against 2)
Spain: W-D-D-W-W-D (Goals for 16, against 5)
Italy
The Italians have been in spectacular form throughout the tournament and they are certainly one of the favourites to lift the trophy in the end.
Despite the injury blow to Leonardo Spinazzola, the Italians have enough quality in depth to defeat Spain here and go on to the finals.
They are coming into this game on the back of a morale-boosting win over Belgium and Mancini’s men will fancy their chances against their semi-final opponents.
Italy have won just one of their last six matches against Spain and they will be looking to make amends here.
Possible Italy starting line-ups
Gianluigi Donnarumma; Emerson Palmieri, Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Giovanni Di Lorenzo; Jorginho, Manuel Locatelli, Nicolo Barella; Federico Chiesa, Lorenzo Insigne, Ciro Immobile
Unavailable: Spinazzola (achilles)
It will be difficult, even if Spain are different from Belgium. It will not be the same kind of game compared to the previous one, but it will present many difficulties for sure. Spain have been extraordinary for years, even if now there has been a change and they are a younger side. They have a good coach and very good players.
Roberto Mancini, Italy
Spain
Despite not being at their best in the tournament so far, Luis Enrique’s side have made it to the semi finals of the competition.
It will be interesting to see if they can pull off a morale-boosting win over Italy next week.
Spain have an excellent head to head record over the Italians and they are unbeaten in five of their last six matches against Tuesday’s opposition.
Possible Spain starting line-ups
Unai Simon; Jordi Alba, Aymeric Laporte, Eric Garcia, Cesar Azpilicueta; Sergio Busquets, Koke, Pedri; Dani Olmo, Ferran Torres, Alvaro Morata
Doubtful: Sarabia (muscular)
I don’t think both of us can dominate, so it’ll be interesting to see who wins this tussle. Apart from having top players, Italy are a real team. They attack and defend as a unit, which is really similar to what we do. They also employ a high press, which it would be hard to imagine an Italian side from the past doing. Now they’re strong in several ways of playing, meaning that the game will be really interesting. Both teams will have their moments.
Luis Enrique, Spain
Probability
Italy : Draw : Spain :: 38% : 30% : 32% (in 90 minutes)
Prediction
Both teams are capable of pulling off a win here and this should be a close contest.
Spain have not been at their best going forward this summer and they are likely to struggle against Italy’s formidable defensive unit.
The Italians are in great form and they are full of confidence right now. They should be able to grind out a win eventually.
Italy 2-1 Spain
