Italy vs Spain LIVE: Nations League result, final score and reaction tonight
Relive all the action from the San Siro
Spain ended European champions Italy’s world record 37-match unbeaten run as Ferran Torres scored twice in a 2-1 win at the San Siro stadium in their Nations League semi-final.
Spain will face the winners of Thursday’s other semi-final between France and Belgium in Sunday’s decider.
Torres put Spain ahead in the 17th minute, steering a left-wing cross from Mikel Oyarzabal into the far corner past Italy keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Roberto Mancini’s side, who beat Spain on penalties in the Euro 2020 semi-final in July, found themselves down to 10 men in the 42nd minute when Leonardo Bonucci was sent off for a second yellow card after elbowing Sergio Busquets.
Torres then sent Luis Enrique’s side in with a two-goal lead at the break when he was left unattended to head in another fine cross from Oyarzabal.
Italy ensured a tense end to a quality match when they pulled a goal back, seven minutes from the end, as Enrico Chiesa took advantage of hesitant Spanish defending, broke from the halfway line to the box and then slipped the ball to substitute Lorenzo Pellegrini to convert. Relive all the action below:
Routes to the semi-finals
Italy went unbeaten in Group A1 in 2020, winning three and drawing three of their games with Netherlands, Poland and Bosnia and Herzegovina to finish a point clear of the Netherlands and qualify for the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Spain topped Group A4, two points ahead of second-placed Germany, after winning all three of their home clashes, including a 6-0 thrashing of the four-time world champions in November 2020 when Man City forward Ferran Torres scored a hat-trick.
In fact, Luis Enrique’s side suffered their only group defeat last November when losing 1-0 in Ukraine.
Mancini on young Italian talents
Italy boss Roberto Mancini spoke about the rise of two of his young stars. Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and Federcio Chiesa. On 22-year-old Donnarumma he said:
“[He] started to play very young. He has great qualities. He is improving year after year in order to be considered the best goalkeeper [in the world]. Of course, we were very lucky to have him as our goalkeeper during Euro 2020.”
On Chiesa, Mancini added:
“I also think that Federico can still develop more. He is getting better on so many levels. He has good physical and technical abilities. He has to grow mentally, to find stability.”
The man to watch?
Federico Chiesa is arguably the man of the moment for Italy. He began the opening game of Euro 2020 against Turkey from the bench, but quickly became a central figure in Mancini’s team, scoring crucial goals, including one in the semi-final against Spain.
He is also in great form for his club having scored the winner for Juventus in their Champions League group stage clash with Chelsea just last week.
Italy vs Spain prediction: How will Nations League semi-final play out tonight?
European champions Italy play Spain tonight in the semi-finals of the Uefa Nations League, who will be out to avenge their defeat to Azzurri in the last four of Euro 2020 in July.
Roberto Mancini’s Italy have since broken the world record for the longest international unbeaten run, but they dropped points to both Bulgaria and Switzerland in September’s World Cup qualifying fixtures.
Predicting how Italy vs Spain will play out tonight
All the information you need ahead of the Uefa Nations League semi-final
Pre-match thoughts of Roberto Mancini
Italy boss Roberto Mancini says his side has to play a ‘great game’ against Spain who are masters in possession football as he looks for ways to utilise the talents of Moise Kean and Giacomo Raspadori from the bench. He said:
"We have a few problems in attack because we miss the strikers we had at Euro 2020 [Immobile and Belotti] due to injuries. We have two young strikers here in Raspadori and Kean, let’s see how we will use them.
“Spain played their best game of the Euro against us. They caused a lot of problems with their possession but they’re masters in that sense. We struggled even if the teams had a similar number of chances. We have to play a great game."
Thoughts of Luis Enrique
Spain coach Luis Enrique says he’s enjoying being back in Italy where he spent the 2011-12 season coaching Roma and added that despite having a few players missing his team will give it their all to win this evening. He said:
"It’s an immense pleasure to be back in Italy. I had a wonderful year here as coach of Roma - I love the food, the coffee, the language, the sunshine, at least from Rome southwards, and I think that these two national teams are very alike.
“My plan, as always, is to go for it from the beginning and to play with ambition. There are lots of players who’ve not been able to join us and I’m sorry for them but we are here with a cracking squad."
Gavi youngest ever Spanish player
At 17 years and 62 days old Gavi will become the youngest footballer to ever play for Spain. He has been described as a smart and daring sort of a footballer who’s yet to play a full 90 minutes for Barcelona.
Yet here he is, going up against the European champions with one of the most experienced, talented and ambitious midfields in the world.
No Chiellini for Italy
A surprise in the Italian starting line-up sees Alessandro Bastoni starting instead of Giorgio Chiellini in defence. The captain’s armband passes to fellow centre-back Leonardo Bonucci.
Italy vs Spain - Line ups
Italy XI: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Bonucci, Bastoni, Emerson; Barella, Jorginho, Verratti; Chiesa, Bernardeschi, Insigne,
Spain XI: Unai Simon; Azpilicueta, Laporte, Pau Torres, Alonso; Koke, Busquets, Gavi; Sarabia, Ferran Torres, Oyarzabal
Italy vs Spain - Early team news
Ciro Immobile and Andrea Belotti are both unavailable for Italy meaning the Azzurri are without their two main strikers from their Euro 2020 campaign.
Moise Kean and Giacomo Raspadori are likely to replace them with bth players in good form for their country. 21-year-old Raspadori scored his first goal for Italy in September whilst Kean netted twice in his last international appearance.
The rest of the Italian side will be made of up of the team that featured against Spain and England for during the European Championships in July.
Spain meanwhile have been hit by a number of injuries for the Nations League semi-final. Gerard Moreno, Alvaro Morata, Pedri, Dani Olmo and Jordi Alba all out.
This means West Ham’s Pablo Fornals and Manchester City’s Ferran Torres could be handed starts for Luis Enrique’s side, while 17-year-old Barcelona midfielder Gavi could make his international debut.
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