Spain defenders Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique say national coach Vicente del Bosque deserves to decide his own future amid talk of the end of an era after the Euro 2016 exit to Italy.
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Italy guaranteed their progress to the final eight with a late goal from Pelle as the striker found himself all alone in the Spain box with the ball bouncing towards him, allowing him to volley it powerfully past the helpless De Gea to secure the famous 2-0 win.
Italy captain Gianluigi Buffon hangs off the crossbar as he celebrates the win.
Spain stepped up the pace after the break with Morata heading into the arms of Buffon on his first chance but Italy should have then ended the game as a contest in the 55th, only for Eder failing to beat De Gea after being set up by Pelle. “The second half was different and we were more like ourselves”, Iniesta added.
Del Bosque had always planned to step down and leave behind his coaching career following the end of the competition, though Villar had made noises about talking the World Cup and two-time European Championships victor into staying on. We had revenge on our minds and today we had something extra.
“We’re facing two of the best teams in the world in the space of a few days”, Chiellini told reporters. “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”. We will take it one game at a time. We tried to do our best, to use the wings, to shoot from long range, to play the ball in the air. “(But) I think we are a team, not a group of players”, Conte said.
Del Bosque, who offered to resign following the 2014 World Cup, has previously hinted that he would retire after this summer’s tournament.
Italy deserved its victory and was impressive from the start at Stade de France, stifling Spain’s attacking intent and creating several scoring opportunities with its slick interplay.
He added: “Italy were clearly much better and [David] De Gea was the best player on the park”.
The Spain keeper was made to work again soon after when he turned an overhead kick by Emanuele Giaccherini on to the post.
Spain entered Monday’s game surrounded by doubts after losing 2-1 to Croatia in its final group game, and again it wasn’t able to impose the passing game that’s been behind its recent success.
Here Antonio Conte’s magnificent Italy side looked like the -future. We had some chances and could have equalised.
Iniesta had put in two great performances in the group stage but was unable to do anything against Italians – and the scoreline could have been worse but for De Gea pulling off a number of world-class saves.
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Italy took control of the match early and never let go, with Conte’s 3-5-2 leaving Spain’s attempts at controlling possession in midfield utterly worthless and leaving their efforts to get forward toothless at best. Worried about facing Spain, worried about Antonio Conte’s side letting themselves down, worried about falling out of Euro 2016 early.
