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Italy are into the finals of Euro 2020 after prevailing in a penalty shoot-out following a 1-1 draw with Spain. The Italians have a 100% record at the tournament thus far, having won every group game and knocking out both Austria and Belgium since.
Italy looked strong early and had a real chance when Lorenzo Insigne beat Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simon in a race to the ball. Luckily for Spain, neither Ciro Immobile nor Nicolo Barella were able to create space for a shot, so the opportunity came and went.
Spain's form in the tournament has been much less impressive. Having only secured five points in the group stage, they were unable to put away either Croatia or Switzerland in 90 minutes and seemed to be riding their luck.
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That being said, they performed much better against Italy. They came close to breaking the deadlock a Daniel Olmo's effort was blocked back into his path. His second effort forced a good save from Gianluigi Donnarumma, who got down well to his right.
The game settled into a pattern of Spain dominating possession and Italy counter-attacking with pace in the second half. The latter's approach paid off in the 60th minute when the Italians took the lead.
After Insigne's through ball to Immobile was intercepted, the ball arrived at the feet of Federico Chiesa at the edge of the box. Chiesa cut in on his right foot and curled a beautiful strike past Simon to make it 1-0.
Spain continued to push on at the other end and came close on a number of occasions. Mikel Oyarzabal narrowly failed to get on the end of Koke's cross before later setting up Olmo, who sliced his effort just wide.
In the 80th minute, however, Spain tied the game up following some lovely link-up play between Alvaro Mortata and Olmo. Morata played the ball into Olmo before racing through to pick up the return pass. He took one touch before guiding the ball past Donnarumma with his left foot to get his side back into the game.
There were understandably a number of tired legs in extra-time after a demanding game and a long tournament. Spain went close first when Olmo's free-kick pinballed around the Italy box for some time before eventually rolling behind for a goal-kick.
While there continued to be chances throughout the extra-time period, neither side was able to edge in front, with the game going to penalties.
After two poor penalties, both teams failed to find their mark to begin the proceedings before they began converting their spot-kicks. Spain's fourth penalty was taken by Alvaro Morata, who has come under a lot of criticism for his struggles in front of goal this tournament, much of it unwarranted.
On this occasion, however, Morata's penalty was well saved by Donarumma, which gave Italy the chance to book themselves a spot in the final. Jorginho stepped up and coolly rolled the ball into the bottom right corner to send Italy fans everywhere into a frenzy.
