As Nico Williams weighed up Giovanni Di Lorenzo in the early moments of the second half on a charged evening in Gelsenkirchen, the Italy defender must have felt as if his night was never going to end. Williams had been everywhere but still had one more trick: Italy had compromised their gameplan in an attempt to finally subdue the thrilling Spain winger, but Williams carried the spirit of this young team and simply went again as he found the avenue to his left. A moment that had been building since kick-off finally arrived as Williams produced the cross that led to Riccardo Calafiori’s own goal. By the end, Spain had battered Italy 1-0.
Even as Luis de la Fuente’s side sealed their place in the last-16 with a game to spare, Spain deserved more. For the best part of an hour, they tore the holders Italy apart, led by Williams and his evisceration of Di Lorenzo. Spain really should have found the goals to seal a statement victory such a performance had merited, one of fearlessness that was summed up by irrepressible displays from their young winger Williams, and the even younger 16-year-old Lamine Yamal. Italy, who hung on long enough to threaten a late equaliser, were far from looking like the champions of three years ago.
In that, Spain earned some revenge for their semi-final defeat at Euro 2020, while looking like a more complete side from that tournament. La Roja are certainly more exciting and have more than matched Germany with their first two performances. But if the hosts have been carried on by their own sense of momentum, Spain are generating theirs. The joyfulness of Williams and Yamal to run and run, terrorising their full-backs, offers Spain considerable energy as well as skill. Spain were alive and electrified, all over the pitch.
That includes a magnificently committed performance from Marc Cucurella, the Chelsea defender who looked like he would not make the squad a couple of months ago before his club form turned around. The left-back was excellent against Italy’s Federico Chiesa, flying into challenges as if his life depended on it, his mane flowing wildly. It meant Italy, despite their ambition before the game to control possession, couldn’t gain a foothold. The commanding Gianluigi Donnarumma kept Italy in it with a series of excellent saves but unlike the Wembley penalty shootout victory over Spain, he couldn’t be the hero here.
The meeting of Spain and Italy for a fifth European Championship in a row and the latest chapter of the most played rivalry of the tournament’s history brought the biggest night of Euro 2024 so far. If the group stages of the tournament have been defined by the efforts of the unfancied nations seizing their moment, such as Turkey and Georgia taking swings at each other for 90 minutes in the rain in Dortmund, Spain brought a different level of intensity as they met the holders Italy and wiped them off the park for the best part of an hour. It felt a different sport to whatever England were doing in their 1-1 draw with Denmark earlier.
All that talk before the game about Italy wanting to control possession and Spain accepting they were more dangerous without the ball? Well, old habits die hard. Spain dominated and, from the very start, it was impossible to look away from Williams. The 21-year-old missed the biggest chance of the first half when he headed wide Alvaro Morata’s excellent whipped cross at the back post, but Williams kept on going, finding he had the beating of Di Lorenzo inside and out.
On the other wing, Yamal drew the first ooos from the crowd with an elegant spin, then had everyone on their feet as he lowered his head, steadied for the contact, and then emerged from a bunch of white shirts as if he was floating through the air. A magnificent run fell to the feet of Morata but, from the angle, Donnarumma blocked the shot with his feet. By then, Donnarumma had already tipped over Pedri’s header, set up by who else but Williams, before he managed to get the slightest touch on a rising strike hit ferociously by Fabian Ruiz.
It capped a frantic period where Italy couldn’t get out and Spain’s breakthrough felt inevitable. Italy made it to half-time having been restricted to one effort on goal and attempted to regroup. With his ambition up in smoke, the head coach Luciano Spalletti made two changes at the break, bringing off Jorginho and Davide Frattesi, sacrificing control in the middle for numbers on the outside - specifically, the side of Williams.
On came Andrea Cambiaso and Bryan Cristante, the former positioned ahead of the struggling right back. Cambiaso may have looked at the Spain winger’s treatment of Di Lorenzo and run onto the pitch with wobbling legs. In any case, Italy failed to shut down the Spain left. Pedri could only steer wide from Cucurella’s cut-back moments after the restart, as Italy retreated further and abandoned Spalletti’s principles with a series of alarmed, rushed clearances.
Then, finally, the moment came, and to no one’s surprise it was Williams again, flying at Di Lorenzo and Cambiaso and beating them both. The ball was flashed across the face of goal and although Spain were missing a forward presence, Williams found an area where it caused panic: his cross took a deflection before a touch from the diving Donnarumma sent it into the knee of Calafiori. The centre-back, who carries a hapless air alongside occasional brilliance, crumpled to the turf as it deflected in.
Spain kept flowing forward and, thrillingly, trying new things. Yamal bent a stunning shot inches wide of the bar post, and then Williams attempted the same, crashing a thunderous hit off the crossbar as if Spain’s young wingers were in competition with each other.
The end of the game turned when Yamal and Williams were brought off by De la Fuente, with Spain falling back. Italy survived long enough and suddenly felt as if they were going to get a chance, heads lifting like a rising corpse. A Calafiori header flashed wide but nothing else of substance came, even as Donnarumma went up for a corner at the very last.
It would have been a robbery had Italy nicked it, and in holding out Spain learned something else too. Often, the most watchable and exciting team at the tournament does not go all the way to win it, and are found to be missing something by the latter stages. But Spain, with this new generation, look like they will be going further than many expected. Like Yamal and Williams, their potential appears to rise with every game.
