Luciano Spalletti’s Italy lost the second match of Group B of the European Championships against Spain 1-0: domination by the Red Furies who monopolized the pitch and resolved the match with an own goal from Calafiori.
REPORT CARD ITALY-SPAIN
Donnarumma 8: his intervention on Pedri was providential as he saved everything after less than two minutes, then he made a great opposition to Morata and flew on Fabian Ruiz’s shot from outside. He performs another miracle in the final against Ayoze Perez: if it only ends 1-0, the credit goes entirely to him.
By Lorenzo 4.5: he struggles to keep Nico Williams in the right lane, the Spanish winger often burns him with his speed, coming out from all sides. Constantly holding his breath, he even misses some simple supports.
Sticks 5: in the defensive phase he is attentive, but is unable to set up and loses a bloody ball which risked costing him dearly at the beginning of the second half, also risking it on another occasion. He never manages to be clean in the exit. In great trouble.
Calafiori 5.5: he breaks away more than his teammate to come onto the pitch to be the director instead of Jorginho who sets the ball. With the wrong posture and rather clumsy during the own goal that gave Spain the lead.
Dimarco 5.5: he pushes more than in the first game, he offers himself as soon as he can, even if he doesn’t miss his contribution even from behind. However, he could have been more precise on some crosses.
Jorginho 5: offers fundamental coverage to Di Lorenzo who is in difficulty on the right. However, less effective than usual in the build-up phase, in fact Italy struggled to play the ball on the ground and build.
From 46′ Cristante 5.5: enters and gets a warning after just twenty seconds. Then he gives some interesting impulses, like a nice move to the right which is not followed by Retegui’s movement. However, this does not erase the many technical errors.
Stretcher 5.5: he is also more important in the interdiction phase than in the construction phase. However, he is often overwhelmed by the intensity and quality of the Spanish players.
Church 5: he sacrifices himself more than usual, doing a lot of defensive phase, falling back, playing practically as a midfielder and running a lot. However, not very brilliant up front, downhill compared to the good performance of the debut.
From 64′ Zaccagni 6: he comes in and gives some excitement with his speed and quality. Good impact on the match.
Frattesi 6: very intelligent, he takes some fundamental fouls to let the team breathe and get them up. Probably the most positive of the first half in the offensive sector.
From 46′ Cambiaso 5.5: he enters Italy’s moment of maximum suffering, but has the merit of saving on the line on Le Normand, but suffers a lot and is almost never seen in front.
Pilgrims 6: not at the center of the game, probably affected by the blow taken after a few minutes. He goes up a bit in the second half, picking up a few fouls.
Scamacca 5.5: he badly handles a ball that could have become dangerous after ten minutes, then he unloads badly towards Chiesa on one of the few counterattacks. Awkward and imprecise on the few balls available.
From 64′ Retegui 5.5: it is almost never seen, it could have been more incisive on Cristante’s initiative, but it really served too little.
Spalletti 4: decides to fully reconfirm the team that beat Albania, but his team are in difficulty right from the start. Spain plays at a different level of intensity compared to their team who practically never manage to get out and start again. Only in the last minutes does a timid reaction of pride arrive, but the difference that emerged tonight, in addition to concerning the quality of the performers on the pitch, is his responsibility for having fielded an excessively front-wheel drive team, rather than protecting himself against such a battleship. .
