Euro 2020: Spain out, but Olmo and Pedri point to the future vs Italy – tactical analysis

Italy faced Spain at Wembley in what promised to be an epic semi-final at EURO 2020, and it did not disappoint, as we got arguably the best game of the tournament so far. Spain had a third straight game go to extra-time, and while they had prevailed on penalties against Switzerland in the quarter-finals, this time, the Azzurri held their nerve better to book their place back at Wembley on Sunday. Both sides had some interesting tactics on show, and in this tactical analysis piece, we will look at how both managers set their sides up and adapted as the game went on.

Lineups

Roberto Mancini was forced into one change for this match, with Leonardo Spinazzola, who has been one of the players of EURO 2020 so far, suffering an Achilles tendon injury in Italys quarter-final win over Belgium, and so Emerson Palmieri came in at left-back to replace him. The rest of the side was as expected.

Luis Enrique also had an injury issue to deal with, as Pablo Sarabia was unable to recover in time for this game, with Dani Olmo replacing him. This was expected; what was unexpected was that Enrique dropped Alvaro Morata and played Mikel Oyarzabal instead, with Olmo operating as a false nine.

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