With 12 minutes of the first half remaining, Italy finally gained its reward.
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Eder drove the resulting free kick low to De Gea’s right and although the goalkeeper got down to keep out both the initial effort and the rebound, Giorgio Chiellini tapped home into an unguarded net.
“I don’t want to go home, the boys don’t want to go home”.
No, this has more to do with what happened in 2008, when Spain beat Italy and kick-started their own golden era of success.
In the second half, Spain showed more menace and came close to equalizing on a couple of occasions.
Pelle’s goal came just a short while after Spain defender Gerard Pique had Spain’s best chance to equalize, but Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon saved his close-range shot.
Spain, meanwhile, struggled to get their passing game going and failed to register a single effort on target in the first half. Iceland captain Aron Gunnarrsson, who plays for Cardiff in the second tier of English football, tore off his shirt off and ran over to fans, leading his teammates in dancing and singing.
Spain had to depend on luck for an equalizer, and they nearly got it with a minute remaining, when a long goal kick made its way to Gerard Piqué. “There’s no tomorrow for Spain, there is for us”, said Conte. We deserved to finish it earlier, and we suffered in the last 15 minutes.
Sometimes we hold back, sometimes we go forward.
Bonucci scooped the man-of-the-match award after fellow centre-back Giorgio Chiellini opened the scoring in the 33rd minute and Graziano Pelle crowned a stunning triumph in stoppage time.
After a formidable group stage, Spain is out in a painful way.
“There is a insane imbalance in the draw for the second round, but those are the rules and we have to respect them”, said Conte.
Four years ago, Spain steamrollered their way to a 4-0 win; even Fernando Torres scored.
“We have to accept the disappointment”. At 38, the Juve veteran hasn’t shown a single sign of weakness or tiredness, and will definitely be in goal when they go to Russian Federation for the 2018 World Cup.
The 38-year-old Buffon was a mentor to the young Morata, joint top scorer at the Euros with three goals, during his time in Turin.
La Furia Roja hadn’t lost a competitive match to Italy since the 1994 World Cup quarter-final, but had only a couple of late chances parried by Gigi Buffon.
Dethroned at the World Cup and now at the European Championship, Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque believes his team can soon reign again.
“We have been working very intensively for a month now, tactically and physically, in a bid to surprise people and we have already succeeded on that”.
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As for his future in the role, del Bosque said he would await a meeting with the Spanish FA despite it being muted that he would part ways with the role following the tournament.
