UEFA Euro 2020 Preview: Italy vs Spain. Probable Lineups, Fixtures, Predictions. Team News, Stats
The fascinating semifinal match between Italy and Spain will be held in London on the 7th of July. The kick-off time – 00:30 IST.
The UEFA European Championship is heading towards the finish line. Four sides are still competing for medals and only one of them will lift the trophy. The strongest competitors have traveled to the legendary Wembley Stadium, where two semi-finals and a final will take place this week. We are starting with a real Euro classics – Italy will play Spain.
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It will be a very heated and unpredictable encounter, with both teams currently on a super-series, one of which is certain to be broken this Tuesday-Wednesday night. Spain is currently unbeaten for 13 games, while Italy’s last defeat happened back in 2018 – 32 games ago, just imagine.
Parimatchnews prepared the exclusive preview and prediction special for our readers, after this piece you will know everything to place a victorious bet.
Italy News & Current Form:
In the first leg of the group stage, the Squadra Azzurra thrashed Turkey 3-0, scoring all the goals after half-time and allowing only three shots on their goal – all past the target.
In the 2nd leg, Italy also demolished Switzerland, with Manuel Locatelli scoring a goal in each half and Ciro Immobile completing the job.
The match against Wales wasn’t significant and Roberto Mancini fielded a reserve line-up, winning 1-0 thanks to a goal from Pessina.
In the 1/8 finals, Italy had trouble only beating Austria 2-1 in extra time, which ended their 11-match clean sheet streak.
After that, it was on to face a fearsome team of Roberto Martinez.
Lorenzo Insigne was superb with his outside-the-box stunner
In the quarter-finals, the Italians beat Belgium 2-1 as they manage to keep the right score to advance in the second half and extended their unbeaten streak to 32 matches (and their winning streak to 13).
Just look at the winning goal:
Leonardo Spinazzola will only watch the rest of the matches from the stands through tears in his eyes: a terrible Achilles tendon injury has put him out of action not only for the rest of the tournament – he will have to undergo treatment and rehabilitation for at least four months.
Mancini about Spinazzola: “Spina has been one of the players who brought us here. I think he has been the best left-back of the EURO so far. So of course he will be with us on the pitch.”
This is a huge problem for the coach. The Roma defender showed a cosmic level throughout the tournament, covering the entire flank from kick-off to end and was voted the best player of the two matches. Now everyone will have their fingers crossed for him and for the team.
Donnarumma, Immobile, Insigne, Chiellini, Barella, Chiesa – all these guys are ready to fight for a second European Cup.
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The Azzurri are off to Wembley for a final training session ahead of the match:
Spain News & Current Form:
Spain similarly found themselves in a group that was not the strongest one, but unlike their opponents, Luis Enrique‘s side had an adventurous break out of it. Already in the first round, the Spaniards faced a Swedish wall, failing to score (0-0), and then played a 1-1 draw with Poland. A 5-0 thrashing of Slovakia helped them progress from the group, but only from second place.
After that, Spain started the round of 16 with a conceded own goal from Pedri.
Croatia looked unimpressive, and the Red Devils managed to convert three goals until the 75th minute. However, Mislav Orsic bundled in to give Croatia a lifeline in Copenhagen and then set up fellow substitute Mario Pasalic in the 92nd minute to take an enthralling game to extra time.
Croatia’s fortitude helped them score two goals in the final 10 minutes of regular time
But La Roja dug deep in the additional period to book a place in the quarter-finals, where Switzerland awaits, with Morata making amends for an earlier miss with a well-taken goal and Oyarzabal adding a second from the bench to settle a game (3-5) that will go down as a European Championship classic.
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The draws against Sweden, Poland and Switzerland showed that the team had problems with scoring against well-organized defense: the Spaniards reached the semi-finals only through a penalty shoot-out, in which the Swiss were very poor, with three penalties missed (1-1 FT, 1-3 penalty).
Unai Simon and César Azpilicueta celebrate
Italy vs Spain Head-To-Head Record:
This will be the 34th match between Italy and Spain, but only the seventh at the Euros.
The overall statistics look as follows:
| Italy | Draw | Spain |
| 9 | 14 | 10 |
The teams have met in the last three UEFA European Championships: Spain which lifted the trophy that year had beaten the reigning champions Italy 4-2 on penalties in the 2008 UEFA European Championship quarter-final.
Four years later, at UEFA Euro 2012, the teams played two matches; first, they tied 1-1 in the group stage and then fate willed them to meet in the final. The Spaniards crushed the Italians 4-0 at Kyiv’s Olimpiyskiy Stadium to claim their second successive European title.
Captain Iker Casillas of Spain lifts the trophy
At Euro 2016, the teams met in the 1/8 final at the Stade de France, Italians snatched the victory (2-0).
The teams played their last two matches in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers: a draw followed by a win for Spain in the return leg.
Italy last matches (all competitions): W-W-W-W-W-W
Spain last matches (all competitions): W-D-D-W-W-W
Italy vs Spain Predicted XI:
Italy Predicted XI (4-3-3): Gianluigi Donnarumma; Emerson Palmieri, Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Giovanni Di Lorenzo; Jorginho, Manuel Locatelli, Nicolo Barella; Federico Chiesa, Lorenzo Insigne, Ciro Immobile
Spain Predicted XI (4-3-3): Unai Simon; Jordi Alba, Aymeric Laporte, Eric Garcia, Cesar Azpilicueta; Sergio Busquets, Koke, Pedri; Dani Olmo, Ferran Torres, Alvaro Morata
Statistical preview of the match Italy vs Spain:
- Spain are the tournament leader in shots on opponents` goal (227 in five games).
- Italy win 13 meetings in a row
- Spain have scored 12 goals in their last three games
- Italy have conceded just three goals in their last 17 games
- The last face-off ended in a big win for Spain (3-0).
- In official games between the teams, there is a consistent minimum of 2 goals scored.
- Key Leonardo Spinazzola will miss the remaining matches at Euro 2020 due to injury;
We also give you a more detailed description of the teams:
| Italy | Spain | |
| FIFA ranking | 7th | 6th |
| Aggregate squad cost | €850 million | €855 million |
| Best players | Federico Chiesa, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Marco Verratti, Nicolo Barella – around €60m each | Pedri, Rodri, Mikel Oyarzabal, Marcos Llorente – around €70m each |
Italy vs Spain Prediction:
There is a reason to expect a game with many goals – after all, the teams are the brightest attacking and scoring sides in the tournament, Italy’s attacking quality has been amazing this Euros, remember the match against Belgium (who were previously considered favourites to win the tournament).
Italy are the favourites to win according to Parimatch.
| Italy | Draw (90 min) | Spain |
| 2.46 | 3.25 | 3.20 |
The Azzurri’s phenomenal 32-match unbeaten streak is continuing. It is a national team record, and Roberto Mancini with his players are unlikely to be willing to stop. By all aspects, the Italians look more interesting and should be successful. Whether it will be in regular time is the question.
On the other hand, the Italians do not rush forward from the start, they tend to be very attentive in defense, as evidenced by only two goals they conceded in the tournament. The Blues are likely to start cautiously – slowly building attacks from the back-line, with the cost of a mistake putting pressure on Spain as well. So it hardly makes sense to count on really productive football.
Therefore, our betting will take into account the attacking orientation and tactics of the two teams, but we will not forget about the seriousness of the semifinal stage of the tournament, there is a trophy on the line and it will definitely affect the cautiousness of the teams.
ParimatchNews staff prediction:
We say:
1. Italy to win in regular time (Parimatch offers 2.46 for this scenario), we also consider plain ‘Italy to Qualify’ for 1.75 to be more prudent.
2. Total over 2 (Parimatch offers 1.73 for this scenario). Possibly the teams will ‘park a bus‘ after scoring a goal without being risky to make a mistake, so let’s settle for that bet.