EURO El Clasico: Old rivals Italy and Spain meet again dreaming of tournament glory
In addition, for the statistically-minded, Italy have been unbeaten in nine of their 10 matches against Spain between the European Championships and the World Cup, losing only the final of EURO 2012 (4-0) - excluding the penalty shootout in 2008. Considering all competitions, La Roja have won their last two matches against the Azzurri, both in the Nations League, and have never had three wins in a row against Italy.
Changes on the bench
Compared to the last meeting on July 6th 2021, which ended 1-1 at Wembley in the semi-final of last year's European Championships - with the Azzurri going through in the penalty shootout - both national teams have changed their coach.
La Roja chose Luis de la Fuente, the coach who had led the Spanish national Under-18, Under-19, Under-21 and Olympic teams in the last 10 years, achieving several successes. Meanwhile, Italy instead opted for the coach who won the Scudetto with Napoli, Luciano Spalletti.
Spain and the new course
After the disappointing elimination against Morocco in the round of 16 of the World Cup in Qatar, Spain quickly bounced back in the EURO 2024 qualifiers, winning their group with seven wins and only one defeat, with 25 goals scored and five conceded, finishing ahead of Scotland and Norway.
The new coach De la Fuente placed great importance on the generational change, which had already been initiated by Luis Enrique, and thanks also to his knowledge of previously coached talents, he immediately gave confidence to other young players who had emerged in the last year, such as Lamine Yamal. The Spanish coach has tried to find the right balance between the more experienced and younger players.
Rodri is the pivot and driving force of the team, while Alvaro Morata is the captain. With the goal against Croatia, the latter rose to seven goals at the European Championships, becoming the third highest scorer ever in the history of the tournament, on a par with Antoine Griezmann and Alan Shearer, behind only Cristiano Ronaldo (14) and Michel Platini (nine).
The concept that best explains the new course of Spain is encapsulated in the third goal against Croatia, in which Dani Carvajal became the 'oldest' player to score for Spain at the European Championship (32 years and 156 days), assisted by Yamal, the youngest to play a match and provide an assist in the history of the competition (16 years and 338 days).
A curious fact is that despite their 3-0 victory over Croatia, Spain recorded lower ball possession than their opponents (47%) in an official match for the first time since the EURO 2008 final against Germany (46%), ending a series of 136 matches with the majority in possession.
Reigning champions Italy
Expectations were high for the first match of reigning champions Italy at this tournament but the Azzurri, despite a shock start with a goal conceded just 23 seconds after the first whistle, showed a great reaction.
Albania's goal, in fact, was the fastest scored by a national team in the history of the European Championships, as well as the fastest goal conceded by the Azzurri between the European Championships and the World Cup.
Confidence in the new players was also very important for Spalletti. The lineup fielded against Albania was, in fact, the starting 11 with the lowest average age (26 years and 287 days) for Italy at the European Championship since June 22nd 1988 against the Soviet Union (25 years and 2 days).
This certainly includes one of the big surprises of the last Serie A season: Riccardo Calafiori who, at the age of 22 years and 27 days, became the second youngest Italian defender to play a match in the history of the European Championships, after Paolo Maldini who was 19 years and 350 days, on June 10th 1988, against Germany.
As anticipated in the press conference before this competition, Spalletti has tried to keep Inter's Italian block, a formation that dominated the last Serie A season. Among them, the driving force of the Azzurri in terms of both technical qualities and personality is certainly Nicolo Barella.
A leader also in terms of statistics, Barella is in fact Italy's top scorer (10 goals) among the players currently in the Azzurri's squad. He is in a magical run of form and after the goals against Ecuador and Albania, he could score in three straight appearances for the first time in his career with Italy.
Moreover, in the last match against Albania the Azzurri recorded a very special stat - for the second time in their history, between the European Championships and the World Cup, two Inter players have found the goal in a single match - the first on June 17th 1970 in the 'match of the century' against West Germany, with goals from Roberto Boninsegna and Tarcisio Burgnich, in the World Cup semi-final at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.
Both Italy and Spain got off on the right foot at EURO 2024, we will now see if one of the two will be able to impose themselves on the other, gaining the necessary momentum to dream of going all the way in this European Championship too.
