Enschede [Netherland], June 16 : Italy's hopes failed as they were looking to add more silverware to their cabinet. Italy was defeated 2-1 by Spain in the semi-final match of the UEFA Nations League on Friday. Following the defeat Italy's manager Roberto Mancini said, we are lacking great forwards, according to the official website of UEFA.
After winning the Euro 2020 title, Italy's downfall has been immense. Firstly, Italy failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2022 after a 1-0 defeat to North Macedonia in the qualifiers for the World Cup.
In the semi-finals of the UEFA Nations League Italy crashed out in the semi-finals of the competition.
After the defeat, in the post-match presentation, Italy's coach Roberto Mancini said, "At this moment, we have a number of great midfielders and defenders, but we are lacking great forwards. I hope that in the future, players from the youth teams can step up," according to the official website of UEFA.
He further added, "We played with a 3-5-2 in the first half and it went well, as we expected," Mancini added. "We did fade [in the second half] but we had issues in terms of winning the ball back. We were constantly under pressure in the second half, and had we reverted to our typical 4-3-3, it may have been different."
Roberto Mancini further expressed his views as he said, "We could have gone back to a back four [in the second half] after Bonucci came off, knowing we'd have given them a bit more possession. We could have tried a higher block and been a bit more attacking in the second half. We dropped off a bit too much."
While concluding he said, "We began to freshen the squad up during the league phase. We have some good kids and Frattesi played well. But that did not cause this defeat."
The final of the UEFA Nations League will be played on Monday between Croatia and Spain.
Spain scored an early goal as Yeremy Pino took advantage of a mistake made by Italy's defender Leonardo Bonucci and put the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma to give Spain a 1-0 lead in the match. Yeremy Pino scored in the third minute of the match.
Italy gave a quick reply, as they were awarded a penalty early in the game. Ciro Immobile scored in the 11th minute of the match from a penalty kick to level the game at 1-1.
The first half ended as a draw as both teams attacked well. Spain looked more threatening while attacking in the first half.
In the second half, Spain scored in the last moments of the game. In the 88th minute, Joselu scored a tap-in to give Spain a 2-1 lead in the match.
Italy failed to find a goal to take the match into extra time thus Spain emerged victorious and advanced to the final match.
Spain took a total of 19 shots out of which seven were on target. They had a total of 63 per cent of possession on the ball during the match. They completed a total of 648 passes with an accuracy of 87 per cent.
Italy took eight shots out of which three were on target. They had a total of 37 per cent of possession on the ball during the match. They completed a total of 391 passes with an accuracy of 78 per cent.
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