Spain 2-1 Italy: Joselu sends La Roja back to final

Spain reached a second successive UEFA Nations League final as Joselu's late goal gave them a 2-1 victory against Italy in Enschede.

Match in brief: Joselu performs party trick again

While the first semi-final between Netherlands and Croatia took its time to reach fever pitch, this one had all the makings of a classic from the word go with Spain hitting the front inside three minutes.

Yeremy Pino and Gavi made their international debuts in the 2-1 semi-final success against Italy in 2021 – the most recent meeting of these sides – and both were involved in a high press that led to the opening goal here, Pino eventually wresting possession from Leonardo Bonucci before coolly sweeping his finish past Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Spain enjoy their early breakthroughUEFA via Getty Images

The high-octane start did not not relent and Italy were level eight minutes later when Spain debutant Robin Le Normand handled Nicolò Zaniolo's fierce effort in the area and Ciro Immobile converted the resulting penalty for his ninth goal during Roberto Mancini's reign – more than any other player.

Chances continued to flow regularly with Davide Frattesi denied an Azzurri second after just mistiming his burst through and Álvaro Morata's two drives kept out by Donnarumma from the remainder of a pulsating opening half.

Spain almost began the second period in the same way as the first only for Donnarumma to thwart Mikel Merino from close range before Morata swivelled and prodded the rebound wide. Then Rodri, who had scored the winning goal for Manchester City in the Champions League final five days ago, nearly repeated the trick with an acrobatic effort that fizzed over the bar.

Ciro Immobile celebrates after making it 1-1AFP via Getty Images

Italy, targeting a first Nations League final, carried a less regular threat but came equally close to prising the third goal of the contest when Frattesi's thumping effort from Zaniolo's cross was brilliantly kept out at point-blank range by Unai Simón.

Both nations rang the changes and it was the last of them, Joselu, that had the decisive say. The Espanyol forward, who took only five minutes to score twice on his Spain debut against Norway in March, was quick out of the blocks again, flicking in after Rodri's drive had deflected towards him – less than four minutes after his introduction this time.

Next up for La Roja, Croatia in Sunday's final in Rotterdam and a chance to finally scoop the silverware after defeat to France in the 2021 decider.

Joselu is buried under a mass of Spain players after his late winnerUEFA via Getty Images

Player of the Match: Rodri (Spain)

"He linked play well and retained possession for his team. His passes were often simple but very effective and he was involved in the winning goal."
UEFA Technical Observer Panel

Graham Hunter, Spain reporter

Such a typical Spain performance against Italy. A mixture of possession, clever ideas and moments when they tremble and fail. But long before the result was clear something emerged. This was the most complete, most mature performance since De La Fuente took charge, particularly in the second half. You noticed that Pedri wasn't there but the clearest thing, again, was that lack of clinical, cold-blooded finishing in front of goal. Spain had chances to win this long before the frantic finish.

Paolo Menicucci, Italy reporter

Italy are still in a rebuilding mode but there are some positives for Mancini after this game, despite the defeat. The reaction after conceding an early goal was very good. The fighting spirit to resist when Spain had long spells of possession was also remarkable and the performance of 23-year-old midfielder Frattesi was certainly good. But Mancini is certainly aware that his team still have plenty of work to do to bring the EURO 2020 magic back.

Rodri's spectacular effort flies just overAFP via Getty Images

Reaction

Luis De La Fuente, Spain coach: "I am pleased and proud. We played a really high-level match. We told the players pre-match what we wanted, and they followed it to the letter. We saw very talented players adding their ability to this win and as a result, we are delighted. This was against an important rival and it makes me optimistic, because the players understood the instructions and followed them. They believed in the concepts. We were solid, we got the good result because of that."

Rodri, Spain midfielder: "We must not let this opportunity escape now. It's not easy to get to a final. We've been too long without a trophy. Italy have to be amongst the very toughest rivals in Europe, or the world, and that's why you saw us really celebrating at the end. We want to win this trophy."

Roberto Mancini, Italy coach: "We did fade [in the second half] but we had issues in terms of winning the ball back. We were constantly under pressure in the second half and had we reverted to our typical 4-3-3 it may have been different. We could have gone back to a back four after Bonucci came off, knowing we'd have given them a bit more possession. We could have tried a higher block and been a bit more attacking in the second half. We dropped off a bit too much."

Francesco Acerbi, Italy defender: "In the first half, they had more possession but, after the first ten minutes, we played well and we created three or four chances to score a goal. We made a lot of passes and maybe physically we are not there yet. Maybe at the end of the season, we made more mistakes than we should have done."

Key stats

• Spain have scored 19 goals in the first half of Nations League games, the joint-highest tally alongside Belgium.
• Spain have only failed to score in one of their last 19 Nations League matches while Italy have only drawn one blank in their most recent 12 games in the competition.
• Spain have lost only two of their last 11 Nations League matches (W6 D3).
• Donnarumma played for the 19th time in this competition, making him the outright record holder for all-time appearances in the Nations League.

Line-ups

Spain: Unai Simón; Jesús Navas, Le Normand, Laporte, Alba; Rodri, Merino (Fabián Ruiz 74); Rodrigo (Asensio 46), Gavi (Canales 68), Pino (Fati 74); Morata (Joselu 84)

Italy: Donnarumma; Tolói, Bonucci (Darmian 46), Acerbi; Di Lorenzo, Frattesi (Verratti 76), Jorginho (Cristante 60), Barella, Spinazzola (Dimarco 46); Zaniolo, Immobile (Chiesa 60)

What happens next?

UEFA via Getty Images

Spain will play Croatia in the UEFA Nations League final in Rotterdam at 20:45 CET on Sunday 18 June.

Italy will play Netherlands in the third-place play-off in Enschede at 15:00 CET on the same day.