EURO 2020: Italy’s impressive attacking performance and solid defending knock Belgium out – tactical analysis

Belgium faced Italy in the quarter-final of EURO 2020 at Allianz Arena, Germany and the game ended with an Italian win thanks to the goals of Nicolò Barella and Lorenzo Insigne, despite the penalty awarded to Belgium which was scored by Romelu Lukaku. Italy therefore responded to all the critics which argued that Italy did not face a strong team yet and that they are unable to reach the later stages of the tournament. By excluding Belgium, they proved that they are on the right path since they performed well ahead of their encounter with Spain in the semi-finals.

In this tactical analysis, we will delve deeper into Italy’s tactics to explore why was their attacking performance convincing, how were they able to threaten Belgium’s goal several times, as well as how they managed to keep their advantage and stop Belgium’s excellent attacking players.

Line-ups

For this EURO 2020’s quarter-final, Roberto Martínez chose to start with the 3-4-2-1 formation after the recovery of the team’s star Kevin De Bruyne at the last minute. The team relied on Thibaut Courtois as a goalkeeper, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen and Thomas Vermaelen as centre-backs, Thomas Meunier, Youri Tielemans, Axel Witsel and Thorgan Hazard in midfield with Kevin De Bruyne and Jérémy Doku playing just in front of them and behind the striker Romelu Lukaku.

While on the other hand, Roberto Mancini relied on his usual 4-3-3 formation with Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Spinazzola in defence, Nicolò Barella, Jorginho and Marco Verratti as central midfielders with Federico Chiesa and Lorenzo Insigne playing as wingers behind the striker Ciro Immobile.

Italy’s defensive performance

Italy started the match with determination to have possession and play the football that they used to play in the group stage to not repeat the average performance of the Round of 16. And at the same time, Belgium opted for leaving a lot of space to Italy and defend without pressing high in order to have the opportunity of launching dangerous counter-attacks relying on De Bruyne’s speed and penetrations and Lukaku’s efficiency inside the box.

However, Italy’s defensive players were usually attentive enough to this plan as Chiellini marked Lukaku tightly as soon as Belgium intercepted the ball, while Bonucci was always attentive to this duel and waiting to intervene and cover for his teammate if Lukaku goes past him.