Italy too much for Belgium and book a spot in the semifinals

Italy stay alive and remain one of the favorites to win Euro 2020

Italy continued their strong run in Euro 2020 and advanced to the semifinals by beating Belgium 2-1.

The Italians scored two goals in the first half before Belgium answered back with one of their own, minutes before halftime. But the Italians showed their resolve and held the Belgians at bay during the second half.

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Nicolò Barella opened the score for Roberto Mancini’s side. Belgium’s Jan Vertonghen lost the ball trying to play it out from the back. Barella received the pass inside the penalty area and did well to slink through two defenders before knocking it past Thibaut Courtois.

"“It hurts even more that my mistake caused a goal for Italy,” Vertonghen said. “It was during a phase where we had little possession and if we had the ball, we lost it immediately. So I wanted to keep possession of the ball, but that was not the best decision in the box to do that.”Source UEFA"

Lorenzo Insigne would double the lead in the 44th minute. The Napoli forward had the ball near the center of the pitch, just outside the box, and curled a beautiful shot past Courtois.

Belgium responded moments later Jeremy Doku was shoved in the back by Italy right-back Giovanni Di Lorenzo for a penalty. Romelu Lukaku stepped up and cut the lead down to one.

But that would be it in terms of the goal scoring. Italy managed to hang on to their one goal lead though they didn’t entirely keep the Belgians at bay. Lukaku had a clear chance to put the game level but missed what amounted to a sitter off a low cross from Kevin de Bruyne.

For Belgium, the loss meant another disappointment for the perennial dark horses. They always seem to come into a tournaments as a team to watch out for but stumble somewhere along the way.

"“We didn’t adapt to the first half as well as Italy did, said Belgium manager Roberto Martinez. “But the players wanted to fight back during the second half. Unfortunately one team had to lose today and that was us.“That second goal would have given us momentum and maybe we could have won. But we couldn’t get what we wanted. But I am proud of the attitude and commitment of the team.”Source: UEFA"

As for Italy, they move on to the semifinals and remain the favorites to win it all. In contrast to some of the other favorites, take France for example, the Italians have been able to control the majority of their games.

They may suffer a scare here or there but for the most part seem to be secure and know what their game plan is. It is a credit to manager Roberto Mancini.

"“We scored two and we could have scored more,” Mancini said. “I think the victory is fully deserved. Spain are next but the more you go forward the most difficult it becomes. Tonight, however, we just want to think about our performance and our victory.“I don’t think we suffered too much in any moment of the game. To beat a team like Belgium you need a great performance by everybody and this is exactly what happened today.”Source: UEFA"

As Mancini alluded to, Spain awaits them in the semifinal stage after they knocked out Switzerland in penalties. Should Italy get past them, then they would simply be one win away from winning the European Championship.

It would be vindication and a sign of how far they’ve come after failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.