Spain qualified on the gong for the final of the League of Nations, thanks to its snatch success against Italy (2-1). After a great start to the match, Jose Luis De La Fuente’s men multiplied their offensives and were rewarded from the 3rd minute of play. On a medium raise from Donnarumma, Squadra Azzurra captain Leonardo Bonucci attempted a daring dribble which he finally missed against Yéremy Pino. The Villarreal winger ensured head-to-head to deceive the Italian goalkeeper and open the scoring for La Roja.
Seven minutes later, legendary Lazio centre-forward Ciro Immobile equalized from the penalty spot, his 16th goal for the Italian team aged 33. A penalty caused by the unfortunate Robin Le Normand who was playing his first match in the red jersey. The Franco-Spanish let his hand drag on a completely missed volley from Zaniolo (7th). Despite the two quick goals, the pace of play did not diminish and the two teams continued to go blow for blow, going from one goal to another until the end of the first half.
We seemed to be starting on the same basis as in the first half, as soon as they returned from the locker room, the 2010 world champions were very close to racing in the lead but Gianluigi Donnarumuma decided otherwise. The PSG goalkeeper used his line perfectly to repel the point-blank shot from Sociedad player Mikel Merino (49th). Behind, La Roja fell asleep and Mancini’s men almost punished their opponent against the course of the game with a recovery from Davide Frattesi perfectly repelled by Unai Simon (65th). Then the score didn’t move, actions were rare and both teams headed straight for extra time.
But that was without counting on the new Spanish “supersub”, Joselu. Entering the 83rd in place of Alvaro Morata, the center forward of Espanyol Barcelona only needed five minutes to score the decisive goal (88th). Well placed like a surface fox, the future Meringue scored at 32 his third goal in as many appearances in the blood red jersey. Spain therefore won 2-1 against Italy as they did two years ago at the same stage of the competition. The Spaniards will challenge the Croats in the final, this Sunday at 8:45 p.m. Their second consecutive final in this competition after the one lost to the Blues two years ago (2-1).
