Belgium vs Italy was a true heavyweight clash in the EURO 2020 quarter-finals, with the Azzurri coming out on top to progress to the last four of the tournament. Belgium manager Roberto Martinez was without Eden Hazard after he picked up an injury in their round of 16 win over Portugal, and he brought in 19-year-old Rennes winger Jeremy Doku into the side. Kevin De Bruyne started, however, despite having torn ankle ligaments in the previous match, as revealed by him after this game. Roberto Mancini was able to call on captain Georgio Chiellini again, and this was the only change to the side that came through extra-time to beat Austria in the previous round.
Italy had the majority of possession in the first half, and made it count just after the half-hour mark, with Nicolo Barella firing home the opener before Lorenzo Insigne’s superb curling effort doubled Italy’s tally. Belgium had a couple of big chances before Italy’s opening goal, with both De Bruyne and Lukaku going close with efforts that brought good saves from Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, while Leonardo Bonucci had also put the ball in the net early on, only for that goal to be disallowed due to offside. Belgium were given a lifeline minutes after Insigne’s goal, when Doku was brought down in the box by Giovanni Di Lorenzo, with Lukaku converting the penalty with the last kick of the first half. The second half saw Belgium try and create an equalizer, with Doku as their biggest threat, while Lukaku was denied by a brilliant block by Leonardo Spinazzola. The Italy left-back was then stretchered off with a serious leg injury, which will rule him out of the rest of EURO 2020. Belgium huffed and puffed but could not break down Italy’s defence, and the Azzurri march on to face Spain at Wembley in the semi-finals of EURO 2020. Check out our EURO 2020 analytics report from this match for the key statistics, data and visualisations.
