Italy through to the Euro 2020 final after beating Spain on penalties

Italy will play either England or Denmark in Sunday's Euro 2020 final. Credit: AP

Italy are through to the Euro 2020 final after an intense semi-final game against Spain went to a penalty shoot-out.

Gianluigi Donnarumma and Jorginho were the heroes as Italy faced their toughest test yet against Spain, who were the better side, but stormed ahead with a 4-2 win in penalties at Wembley after a 1-1 draw.

The Azzurri have been among the front-runners since they opened the tournament on June 11 and they will be there when it finishes against either England or Denmark on Sunday, hoping to win a second European Championship and first since 1968.

A superb atmosphere welcomed the Spanish and Italian teams at Wembley for the Euro 2020 semi-final on Tuesday, where Roberto Mancini’s side started with the kind of intensity shown during their rendition of the Italian national anthem.

After a nervy opening 10 minutes, it was an intense back and forth for the first half with missed chances on both sides.

Italy’s attack had been free-flowing throughout the tournament but their best moment came in first-half stoppage time when Chelsea defender Emerson advanced into the box and struck a fierce shot from a narrow angle, which glanced the crossbar.

Chances continued to come and go for Spain with the game picking up pace in the second half as Sergio Busquets curled inches over following an explosive break by Oyarzabal, while Donnarumma showed safe handling to keep out the Real Sociedad forward’s effort from distance. Given their struggle to make their domination count, perhaps it was inevitable that they fell behind on the hour as they were hit by a lightning quick counter-attack.

Italy delivered the first goal in the 60th minute when Aymeric Laporte looked to have ended a fine move from the goalkeeper when sliding in to stop a superb Lorenzo Insigne through ball, only for Federico Chiesa to collect it and bend an expert strike into the back of the net.

Italy's Federico Chiesa scored the first goal of the intense semi-final match. Credit: PA

Spain continued to carve out the chances and they wasted two more glaring ones shortly after going behind. Oyarzabal somehow completely missed his connection on a free header just six yards out and Olmo fizzed wide from the edge of the box. Eventually they got their reward and recovered well from the setback as Álvaro Morata showed some composure in front of goal 10 minutes from time and scored the leveller.

The equaliser sent the captivating game into extra time, with the first-half ending goalless, after Spain had edged it and came closest in the 108th minute.

Italian fans celebrated wildly as Berardi directed home, only for the offside flag to bring them crashing back down to earth. Spain were looking the most likely to find a winner, but it ended 1-1 after an intense 120 minutes and the semi-final went to nail-biting penalties.

Álvaro Morata scored the leveller for Spain at 80 minutes. Credit: AP

The shootout started with substitute Manuel Locatelli’s penalty being saved by Simon, before Olmo wasted his chance to give Spain an early lead by firing well off target. Andrea Belotti, Gerard Moreno, Leonardo Bonucci, Thiago Alcantara and Federico Bernardeschi scored their spot-kicks before Donnarumma got down to his left to deny Morata. Jorginho stepped up and coolly rolled home the winning spot-kick, with the 4-2 shootout win sending Italy through to Sunday’s final.

Spain deserved to win over the course of the 120 minutes, but poor finishing cost them and they were unable to replicate their penalty shoot-out victory against Switzerland in the last 16. Roberto Mancini’s men were hanging on in extra-time and looked to have run out of steam, but they will now enjoy an extra day’s recovery and return to Wembley hoping to cap an impressive tournament where they have found different ways to win. These two heavyweights meeting at the knock-out stages of the European Championship is a familiar sight, with this clash following previous battles in 2008, 2012 and 2016. Their journeys to the last four had gone down differing paths, with Italy turning heads with five wins from five while Spain got this far by winning just once in 90 minutes. Yet, Spain know their way around the back end of this competition and turned up at Wembley looking the real deal.

They hurried Italy in possession in the way no other team had managed and it reaped rewards as chances came their way, only for their finishing to let them down as they crashed out of the tournament.

England v Denmark: What you need to know about the Euro 2020 semi-final

When is the match happening?

The Euro 2020 semi-final kicks off at 8pm on Wednesday 7 July at Wembley Stadium.

Can I get a ticket?

The FA has said the England Supporters Travel club will have an allocation of nearly 8,500 tickets for the game, with remaining tickets going on sale to those who applied for tickets in the original ticket application process in 2019 but did not choose to return them or requested a refund. Otherwise, it looks like there isn't another way to get tickets - all tickets for the games are sold via the Uefa ticket portal and both England's semi-final and the final are marked as sold out.

Where can I watch the game on TV or online?

The game will be broadcast on ITV, with coverage starting from 6.30pm. It will also be available to stream online on the ITV Hub (for viewers in the UK only).

When is the final?

The Euro 2020 final will take place at Wembley on Sunday 11 July at 8pm.

  • Watch England v Denmark live on ITV and ITV Hub on Wednesday 7 July - coverage begins from 6.30pm, kick off at 8pm