De Gea was also happy to admit that he has learned from Buffon, 38, who has made 159 appearances for Italy since making his debut against Russian Federation as a 19-year-old in October 1997.
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Giorgio Chiellini poked the ball into the net from close range in the 33rd minute after Spain goalkeeper David De Gea first parried Eder’s free kick, then blocked Emanuele Giaccherini’s follow up from the rebound.
Spain could have avoided facing Italy but their 2-1 loss to Croatia in the group stage meant they ended up in the more challenging side of the draw for the knockouts. Spain still held the majority of possession on the day, but were so often forced into sideways or backwards passes with no effective options to move up the field and create a genuine threat to Italy’s defense.
“We’ve been successful with this type of game”. That would really throw Villarreal into turmoil as we get ready for the CL playoff round, wouldn’t it?
“They were probably better”, Spain coach Vicente del Bosque, said.
“This is a very important win”.
Del Bosque repeatedly said on Monday that he would speak to RFEF president Angel Maria Villar before saying anything publicly, and no decision is now expected until mid-July at the earliest given that Villar may put his name forward for the UEFA presidential election and also faces legal challenges to his position in Spain.
Graziano Pelle sealed the victory – Italy’s first competitive triumph over Spain since the 1994 World Cup – with his second goal of the tournament after a cross by Matteo Darmian in second-half injury time. “Spanish football still has a great structure, with good players and coaches, and now we must look forward to qualifying for the next World Cup”.
“This is a team that plays football”.
Gerard Pique says the star-studded Spanish squad will reflect on their early European Championship exit and admitted that they were simply not good enough to defend their title.
“In the end the best team won”.
“In the second half we took a lot of risks and we tried to get the equaliser”.
“It’s more than a month that we’ve been working tactically, technically, mentally and we’ve been trying to surprise everybody and I think we’ve succeeded to some extent”.
Asked about a changing of the guard in AS, De Gea said: “This national team has marked an age, we have a style of play and we must keep doing it, improving”.
Of the Spanish team that burned so brightly in 2012, beating Italy 4-0 in the most one-sided final in European Championship history, there were just embers on the Stade de France pitch soaked by a rain-deluge at kick-off. We’re not a physical team, we are technical.
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Then Italy should have been two up after Pelle flicked the ball on to play Eder through on goal, but he was unable to beat De Gea in the one-on-one and Spain, once again, had their keeper to thank for still being within touching distance of their opponents.
