Spain – Italy: Spain Set The Standard (1-0)

June 21, 2024 No Comments

Continental royalty wrestled on the grand stage, but only one outfit looked to be in contention for the crown. The fiery and fury of La Roja rallied the charge as Spain sauntered into the knockout stages with a dominant display that acted as a stern signal to the rest of their rivals.

Tactical analysis and match report by Emmanuel Adeyemi-Abere.

We decided to make all of our EURO 2024 articles free to read. If you want to support our work, consider taking a subscription.


A Group of Death demands delivery on the part of its contestants from the first fixture. Its two victors on opening matchday maneuvered their way beyond barriers to buy breathing space in this bracket.

Spain showed how the path to triumph can come through unconventional means. For the first time in 136 competitive clashes, spanning a period of 16 years, La Roja relinquished more of the ball over ninety minutes. That did not matter, though, thanks to the dynamism and decisiveness of a front three with fleet footed weapons on the wings as a new problem to piece together with their patient phases of possession. Their last loss in the battle for the ball was the EURO 2008 final. Is it a signal of success?

Italy instigated issues for themselves against Albania, suffering a strike after 23 seconds that was the quickest off the mark in the history of the EUROs. Over time, the wall weakened to the will of the favorites, who forged fluidity to carve out control and take three points. The reigning champions crave to hold onto their crown, and Luciano Spalletti strives for a summit he could not navigate at Naples. The tests truly commence to come to a conclusion on one of the biggest what-ifs of recent times.

Spalletti sent out the same eleven from the first fight. He had opted once more not to turn back to the 3-4-2-1 shape. So, Riccardo Calafiori and Alessandro Bastoni sat at the center of the defense, while Federico Dimarco was on the left of the back four. Nicolò Barella and Jorginho stayed in the middle of the park with Davide Frattesi. Lorenzo Pellegrini played from the left in an attack that was without Giacomo Raspadori. Gianluca Scamacca stood at the tip of the offense, searching for a first strike.

Luis de la Fuente fit one new name into his starting eleven. Aymeric Laporte lost his spot due to a muscle injury on the weekend. However, he was fit to partner with his fellow Frenchman by birth, Robin Le Normand, and took the place of Nacho. Marc Cucurella kept his position as the left back. The midfield mastery was in the hands of Rodri, Fábian Ruiz, and Pedri. Dani Olmo observed from the dugout; Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal yearned to create chaos in support of Álvaro Morata.


Italian impatience as an indicator for improvement

Spain set out to start a new streak of victories in the possession duel. The Croatians claimed this success with their deeper midfielders that took the sting out of higher engagement. Here, de la Fuente’s men asserted their strength. Pedri positioned himself behind Morata in a 4-2-3-1 structure. The wingers would move infield, and the central midfielders shuttled out to the flanks for cover— as opposed to taking the risk of a jumping fullback. Space that existed on the outside counted for naught.



Most Italian attempts to enter the final third involved direct play into the last line. Jorginho tilted to the right of the midfield, where he looked for lobbed passes to release Scamacca behind the last line. Calafiori could also cut the lines with passes to breach the spaces around Rodri that the Croatians could access a few days ago. However, verticality was the answer too frequently for the Italians, and their patience in possession wore down as time elapsed. More than 60% of the ball belonged to Spain.


Spain run like clockwork

Spain showed a sound sense of structure and a desire to play with the ball against Croatia. Here, the patterns played out in the same way. The midfielders maintained control of the possession. Fábian fell back more frequently next to Rodri, and Pedri popped up in gaps between the lines. Rotations on the outside involved Cucurella climbing up the left wing and Williams wandered inside. If Yamal yielded the most praise in their last game, Williams was the outstanding threat from the front three. His direct dribbling and acceleration against di Lorenzo leveraged openings time and again in the final third.



Italy sat in a 4-5-1 medium block. Their attempts to engage both central defenders repeatedly required Barella to jump from the row of five in the midfield. But, all in all, it was too difficult to raise the pressure on the rearguard. Rodri typically had space and time to receive at the base of the midfield, and Jorginho was in constant dilemmas. Pedri roamed between the lines from the right halfspace, and it was not always possible to track movements or perform a handover to one of Bastoni or Calafiori.

Chances aplenty abounded. Within five minutes, Williams nearly broke through twice, setting up Pedri for a header on the edge of the six yard box. Williams also missed a headed effort from Morata’s delivery in the 10th minute, while Fábian flashed his quality from the perimeter of the penalty area. Even so, the story was the same as in the past. Control over the ball and the territory is not enough. It still had not shown itself on the scoreline. How would the Italians inspire a retort to total domination?


35th minute: offensive sequence from Spain. Rodri dropped between the two central defenders, able to separate from Scamacca. Pedri had been on the left shoulder of Jorginho, but pivots in the blindside of the sitting midfielder to his right. Calafiori does not want to follow him into the space as Yamal and Carvajal rotate on the right, while Morata occupies Bastoni. Even though Pedri runs into traffic on the dribble, he and Fábian close down Frattesi to contain the transition and hold onto the possession.


Spanish suffocation; self-inflicted suffering

Italy registered a meager single shot in injury time. Spalletti searched for a solution from the bench. He put on Andrea Cambiaso as a right winger, so Chiesa came over to the left flank, and Pellegrini pushed in as a midfielder. Bryan Cristante also filled in for Frattesi. Yet, the onslaught continued.

Spalletti switched the dynamics in deep buildup phases. Barella stood on the edge of the penalty area, replacing Jorginho as the deepest option in the middle of the park. Bastoni and Calafiori tried to calm the game. But now, even higher pressure from Fábian, backing up Pedri and Morata, stopped these sequences from connecting through the thirds. A goal was not far away: it arrived in the 55th minute.


54th minute: offensive sequence from Italy. Yamal jumped from the outside to press Calafiori. The central defender opened up his body to the left, and then drives with his touch on the dribble to go through the pressure. The passing lane is available to access Dimarco. Spain’s shifting involved Fábian and Pedri engaging higher (here Pedri shifts to the outside behind Yamal) and Williams covered Cristante. Dimarco dumps a long ball towards Scamacca but the ball travels too far.


The Italians coughed up the ball: di Lorenzo leaned in to tackle Williams, but he could not connect with Cristante to counter. Spain switched the ball from the right to the left, where Williams went into another duel. He chopped outside his marker, sprinted down the line, and drove a delivery behind the last line. Morata motioned for a header, and the trajectory troubled Gianluigi Donnarumma. He thrust out an arm at the ball, which fell at the feet of Calafiori. He could not calibrate: an own goal followed.


A minor reprieve

The substitutions amplified after the hour mark. Mateo Retegui replaced Scamacca as the central forward, and Chiesa came off for Mattia Zaccagni. Ten minutes remained on the clock when Giacomo Raspadori entered the fray. He operated as a number ten in place of Pellegrini. Spalletti saw it fit to praise the energy of these players after the final whistle. Some extra pressure from the front and a few more strikes at the goal mustered a minimal riposte. Yet, it was a night for the Spanish to enjoy in full.

Ayoze Pérez was one of the men to see out the one goal advantage for the leaders in the final phase. He did not relent on the teasing and torment from the left, nearly etching his name on the score sheet twice. A 1-0 victory after the ninety minutes did not do justice to the superiority of the Spanish.



Takeaways

Spain settled their business with brilliance. Two triumphs and two clean sheets map out a pristine record, wrapping up a place in the Round of 16 and the top spot in the group. What is most impressive is how La Roja have dispatched the two other favorites for qualification with next to no fuss. Tempo changes, consummate control of the ball, and aggressive pressing is a powerful formula. De la Fuente can now afford to rotate and rest players against Albania as their aspirations for silverware shine forth.

If the Spanish set the standard for a stylish approach on the ball due to the culture that extends deep into the roots of its football, the Italians are a work in progress. Spalletti stated that the fatigue in the legs and mind was too great to galvanize a reply to the technical quality of their opponents, showing how much work remains to do with his squad. The focus, however, is on a narrow agenda for now. The upcoming contest with the Croatians will likely decide who seals the second spot in the standings.



We decided to make all of our EURO 2024 articles free to read. If you want to support our work, consider taking a subscription.

Use the arrows to scroll through all available match plots. Click to enlarge.
Check the match plots page for plots of other matches.

Tags:
By:

Emmanuel Adeyemi-Abere (22) is an ardent Arsenal fan. He now writes as a journalist for several sites but his first love will always be BTP. [ View all posts ]

Comments

Be the first to comment on this article

Leave a Reply

You might be interested in

Real Sociedad – Real Betis: All Square After A Fierce Affair (0-0)
April 26, 2023
Spain – Germany: History Does Not Repeat Itself But It Rhymes
November 27, 2022
Go to TOP