Spain stutters out of the Euro

La Furia Roja’s European campaign this summer has come to close Monday in Paris. Vicente Del Bosque’s side was expected to go into this match with an answer to the concrete questions that were asked of them. Espana instead ran into Antonio Conte’s Italian built brick wall.

The history between these two sides made this match a much-anticipated affair as Italy has been defeated by Spain in major tournaments on back-to-back European Cups. The first occasion came down to a penalty shoot out in 2008 that ended with Fabregas nailing the shot for a win for Spain. The second was a humbling 4-0 victory over the Italians in the 2012 final. This time Del Bosque could not replicate his early triumph in 2012 or Luis Aragones’ victory in 2008.

Antonio Conte side’s main exploit came from their active midfield presence with De Rossi, Parolo and Giaccherini battling it out with Florenzi and Sciglio as wingbacks. Spain was simply unable to keep up with the Azzurri’s high pressure that came from the midfield. Iniesta, Fabregas and Busquets were not enough to cope with the Italians. Spain went down 1-0 inside 33 minutes after a thunderbolt shot coming from Eder off a free kick was initially saved by De Gea. Pique and Sergio Ramos however over looked the reaction of Giaccherini and Chiellini.

Del Bosque went into the half time break knowing he had to change something. Vicente Del Bosque opted to sub off Nolito for Aduriz, which in fact was not much of a change since both players have a rather similar playing style. La Furia Roja began to pile on the pressure on Gigi Buffon’s goal a few times but only really forced the veteran into making a handful of saves.

Del Bosque’s subs in fact failed to create any form of impact when they entered the game. Lucas Vasquez was not much of a threat to Italy’s defensive might when he came on for Alvaro Morata. Pedro also made little impact when he came on for the injured sub Aduriz. Italy went on to seal the victory in a rather clinical counter attack in the 92nd minute, with the goal coming from Graziano Pelle.

The dream of a triple repeat of European glory for Spain is over and now a new name will be etched into the cup for 2016.