A defeat that hurts a lot. For the qualification speech, now postponed to Monday's match against Croatia, but above all for the way in which it arrived, much clearer than the final result. If there is one thing "to save" from the evening in Gelsenkirchen, in fact, it is precisely the score of 1-0, extremely tight for Spain and much less humiliating than what the pitch said, where the Red Furies dominated far and wide, forcing the Azzurri into a real bad evening, well beyond the predictions on the eve.
Spain – Italy 1-0: an own goal by Calafiori decides, but the Azzurri were dominated
Il decisive goal, irony of fate, it only arrived on own networks, but this in no way affects the Spanish dominance, which was total for long stretches of the match. Spalletti and his men leave the Veltins-Arena without an alibi of any kind, beaten precisely on the aspect of the game invoked on the eve of the game, when the coach had recklessly launched proclamations of challenge. The idea, confirmed by the formation choices (the same as the debut with Albania), was to face Spain head-on, but the theory, as often happens, left room for practice and that proved to be decidedly different. Italy comes out of this match with broken bones from all points of view, starting with the statistics: 57% of ball possession at 43, but above all 20 shots at 4, of which 8 on target at 1, not to mention the 553 passes completed at 387. A total domination from which only Donnarumma is saved, best player on the pitch for the Azzurri by distance. The goalkeeper-captain began to get excited after 2 minutes after Pedri's header, after which he repeated it on numerous occasions, even though Spain often lacked precision by kicking just wide or hitting the crossbar (Nico Williams). Spalletti's team didn't understand anything, both on a tactical level (the initial formation was wrong, even worse after the switch to 4-5-1 in the second half) and on an individual level, given that our team didn't win a single duel. The idea of playing it on equal terms takes on the contours of utopia, in light of a match in which nothing worked: the fact of having lost only on an own goal by Calafiori (55') is little consolation and does not change the substance, with the Azzurri forced to play the round of XNUMX on Monday against Croatia.
Spalletti bitter: “Croatia? It depends on how we get there..."
“Everyone would like to copy Spain, they have been playing football at this level for a long time – sighed Spalletti -. I have to be able to make people understand the importance of playing the game on equal terms, because if you put yourself there then in the long run... You have to overturn the concept of the team and not always leave the ball to others, which I don't like to do, I'm not the right man for that type of football. I was expecting an attempt to do something more, but that affected us the legs went less. They deserved to win, regardless of the result, we were never involved in the match and only in the final twenty minutes did we create something to compete with football of this level. From what we saw I had to change something, but the defeat didn't depend only on that: when I brought in fresher players we recovered in intensity and created situations to equalise. Croatia? It depends on how we get there, if we have no idea how to play the ball it becomes difficult."
De La Fuente: “We dominated, close result!”
“I am proud of a wonderful and exceptional group of players who have an immense desire to improve – thought De La Fuente -. It was a very difficult match against a great team that we dominated throughout the match, the result was narrow. We have had many opportunities, we hope to continue to live up to what is expected of us. Are we not very concrete? We must not lose heart, because matches are decided by details. There is no one better than us and we must continue to work with this belief, respecting all rivals. We have good expectations if we continue to do things the way we do them this way."
