Italy vs. Spain – Euro 2020 Semifinal

Two of the grand old teams of European soccer meet in the first semifinal of Euro 2020 on Tuesday when Italy looks to continue its impressive renaissance by beating Spain.

Both teams have dominated games throughout the tournament and will feel that this could be the year they get back to winning ways on the international stage. Read on to discover my betting pick for Italy vs. Spain.

From the very first game of Euro 2020, where Roberto Mancini’s men followed a stunning pre-game performance from Andrea Bocelli to completely overwhelm Turkey, Italy has been fancied to reach the final. Now the Azzurri is just one more game away from achieving that.

Mancini’s side benefitted from some poor finishing from Belgium, but fully deserve its semifinal berth.

But that victory came at a cost. Rampaging defender Leonardo Spinazzola’s tournament has ended after tearing his achilles and his attacking movements have been just as important as his defending. Mancini will now need to use his back up fullbacks to contain Spain’s attacks.

Spain has enjoyed the majority of possession in all five games so far – sometimes by a very large margin – but now comes up against its toughest opponent yet. But Luis Enrique’s side hasn’t always used that possession in the best way, so it needs to be more clinical for this game at Wembley on Tuesday.

Spain was thankful for Switzerland’s inability to repeat its own penalty success from the round of 16 tie in their clash on Friday. An early goal suggested that Spain would dominate the game but the Swiss came back valiantly and only failed right at the last. The problem of putting away games has been a common one for Spain at Euro 2020.

Enrique has no injury worries for the semifinal and will no doubt persevere with Alvaro Morata once again. The striker has had his critics at this tournament but he will get a chance to answer them once again – with the likes of Mikel Oyarzabal waiting in the wings if needed.

The odds for this semifinal are understandably close, but BetOnline has gone for Italy to just about sneak the victory. With Lorenzo Insigne enjoying such a good tournament, that does seem like a perfectly good way to go.

But I think Spinazzola will be a huge miss for Mancini – and if Ciro Immobile fails to get going again, Italy could struggle. This is a more expansive Azzurri than we have seen in the past, but I think it will need to fall back on its defensive strength on Tuesday.

Spain also has a very good defense that has only conceded two goals outside of the thriller against Croatia. But it is the midfield duo of Busquets and Pedri that could win this game. Their creativity and ability to open up defenses has been incredible so far.

Ferran Torres could also play a huge part in a potential Spanish victory. His work on the wing has been impressive whenever he has been given the chance at Euro 2020. I’m still not convinced by Morata – but Spain might not need him to reach the final.