London, June 27, LETA. The Italian national team won the victory over Austria in the overtime final of the European Championship final on Saturday only in overtime.
The Italian national team played a draw 0: 0 (0: 0) against Austria in regular time at Wembley Stadium in London, but was 2: 1 superior in extra time.
Mateo Pesina and Federico Kieza scored the winners, while Sasha Kalajdzic stood out in the Austrian national team.
The “dry” series of the Italian national team had already exceeded 1000 minutes. The Italian footballers have won 12 games in a row, and have only scored one goal in this impressive series. The Italian series of undefeated games has already reached 31 matches, in which it has won 26 victories and fought five times in a draw. Previously, such a long series for Italians was from 1935 to 1939.
The defenders were clearly outwitted by Čiro Immobilem after the first half. The attacker tried to catch the ball in front, but in the end collided with Daniel Bahman, but avoided the warning. Three minutes later, another attack by the Italians got stuck in the “wall” of the Austrian defense. In the 11th minute, the pressure of the Italian team made a mistake for the Austrian defenders, who allowed Leonardo Spinacola to break into the penalty area, but his shot was inaccurate.
17 minutes into the match, Spinacola’s attack got through on the left, but Nikolo Barellam couldn’t handle the ball and his feeble kick wound up in the keeper’s arms. A quick counter attack by Marko Arnautovičs almost resulted in a goal, but a good save from the keeper kept it out, and Marko Arnautovičs could only knock the loose ball wide. In the 25th minute, Marko Verati tried to exacerbate the situation at the Austrian national team goal, but shortly afterwards, he failed to use the standard situation from the corner of the pitch.
The visitors’ central defense should have had no trouble clearing the pass to Immobile, but the Immobile player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. The ball, seemingly flying past the goal, finally hits the left pole. Five minutes after the Italian kick hit the opponent’s field, three opponents played Arnautovičs, but the attacker from this episode failed to create anything dangerous. In the last minutes, the Italians continued to play near the Austrian penalty area, but they did not succeed in conquering the opponents.
In the second half of the second half, Giovanni di Lorenco broke the yellow card against the Austrian team, who earned a yellow card. David Alaba’s fine footwork caused nothing but headaches for David. The keeper wasn’t fooled however, and confidently scooped up the ball. In the next ten minutes, the players of both teams repeatedly made the fans breathe, but neither team was able to score yet.
65 minutes into the game, Alaba had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Arnautoviča. Later, it turned out that the attacker was in the back position, so the Austrian national team goal was not counted. Half a minute later, Marcel Zabicers tried to score a goal from the ground, but without success.
After 73 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by Lorenco Insinji might have resulted in another goal for FC. In the remaining time, both teams had a chance to score, but the best of them was for Italy. In the fifth minute of the compensation time, the Italians decided to play the standard situation at the penalty area by centering on the penalty area, instead of directing the result. The regular time ended without a goal scored.
In the first 9 minutes of the match, Federiko Kjēzam failed to control the ball with a good opportunity. He rehabilitated a minute later, when he got the ball at the right goal post, soon passing it to Bahman. In the last minute of the extra time, Bahmans “pulled out” Insinjes’s shot from the top corner of the goal, but shortly after that Mateo Pesina scored the second goal of the Italian national team. The Austrians lacked the strength in the penalty area to disarm the Italians.
The best opportunity for the Austrians to score in the 111th minute was for Marsel Zabicer, who hit the ball from the close distance with a second attempt. Two minutes later, Michael Gregoričs hit the ball with his back. The earned corner kick later turned out to be very important, because after its play with his head, Kalajdžičs scored. At the end of the second extra time, the Austrians hit the opponents’ goal a few more times, but did not reach the “pendulum”.
Italy will meet the winner of the Portuguese-Belgian match in the quarterfinals.
Italy won all three Group A games – 3: 0 over Turkey and Switzerland and 1: 0 over Wales. In subgroup C, Austria first defeated Northern Macedonia 3: 1, then lost 0: 2 to the Netherlands, but in the end, in an important match with 1: 0, was superior to Ukraine. Second place gave Austria an automatic ticket to the eighth final.
Chiro Immobile and Manuel Lokatelli scored two goals for Italy and assisted by Domenico Berardi twice. The defense of Italy and England in the sub-group tournament were the only ones that their opponents could not break.
The 1968 champion and two-time vice-champion Italy played in the final tournament for the seventh time in a row, stopping in the quarterfinals five years ago. Austria made its debut in the final tournament in 2008 and, as in 2016, did not leave the group, but managed to enter the eighth final for the first time in the format of 24 national teams.
Out of 36 matches between the two national teams, 16 have won Italy, 12 Austria (the last time in 1960), but eight matches ended without determining the winners. The two teams last met in 2008, fighting 2: 2 in the test match.
It has already been reported that the Danish national team beat Wales 4: 0 (1: 0) in the eighth final game in Amsterdam on Saturday. The Danes will meet the winner of the Dutch-Czech match in the quarterfinals.
The Netherlands and the Czech Republic will continue on Sunday in Budapest, while Belgium and the current champion Portugal will compete for the place in the quarterfinals in Seville. A duel between Croatia and Spain is expected in Copenhagen at the beginning of the week, while France and Switzerland will meet face to face in Bucharest. At the end of the eighth final, England will fight Germany in London on Tuesday, and Ukraine will face Sweden in Glasgow.
The quarter-finals will take place on July 2 and 3, the semi-finals on July 6 and 7, and the final match is expected on July 11.
The final tournament of the 2021 European Championship will take place in 11 European cities until July 11. The continent’s strongest team will be determined at Wembley Stadium in London. The revamped Wembley Stadium will host the national team title match for the first time in history, but its predecessor once played in the 1966 World Cup final and the 1996 European Championship final.
Five years ago, Portugal was crowned European Champion, beating France in the final match in Paris with a score of 1: 0.
In the final tournament of the European Championship, 24 teams are divided into six subgroups of four each. The two best teams will automatically qualify for the first round or the eighth final of the elimination tournament, as well as the four best third place winners.
A total of 51 games will be played in this European Championship. When there were 16 more teams in the tournament, 31 matches had to be played.
Composition of the Italian national football team for the final of the European Championship:
goalkeepers: Janluijgi Donnarumma (“AC Milan”), Alex Meret (“Naples”), Salvatore Sirigu (“Torino”);
defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Rome’s “Lazio”), Alessandro Bastoni (Milan’s “Inter”), Leonardo Bonuchi, George Gjellini (both Turin’s “Juventus”), Giovanni di Lorenzo (“Naples”), Emerson (London’s “Chelsea”), England), Alesandro Florence (Saint-Germain, Paris, France), Leonardo Spinacola (AS Roma), Rafael Toloy (Atalanta, Bergamo);
midfielders: Nicolo Barella (Milan “Inter”), Gaetano Castrovilli (Florence “Fiorentina”), Manuel Lokatelli (“Sassuolo”), Mateo Pesina (Bergamo “Atalanta”), Marco Verati (Paris “Saint-Germain”, France), Brian Kristante (“AS Roma”), Federico Chiesa, Federico Bernadeski (both Juventus of Turin), Georgians (Chelsea of London);
attackers: Andrea Beloti (Torino), Domenico Berardi, Giacomo Raspadori (both Sassuolo), Chiro Immobile (Rome Lazio), Lorenzo Insinje (Naples).
The composition of the Austrian national football team for participation in the final of the European Championship:
goalkeepers: Daniel Bahman (Watford, England), Pavao Pervan (VfL Wolfsburg, Germany), Alexander Schlager (Linz ASK);
defenders: David Alaba (Real Madrid, Spain), Alexander Dragovich (Bayer, Leverkusen, Germany), Marco Friedl (Werder, Bremen, Germany), Martin Hintereger (Frankfurt Eintracht, Germany), Stefan Lainer (Monchengladbach) “Borussia”, Germany), Philip Linhart (“Freiburg”, Germany), Stefan Poss (“Hoffenheim”, Germany), Christopher Trimmel (Berlin “Union”, Germany), Andreas Ulmer (“Salzburg”);
midfielders: Julian Baumgartlinger (Bayer, Leverkusen, Germany), Christoph Baumgartner, Florian Grillich (both Hoffenheim, Germany), Stefan Ilsanker (Eintracht Frankfurt, Germany), Konrad Laimer, Marcel Zabicer (both Leipzig) , Germany), Valentino Lazaro (Borussia, Mönchengladbach, Germany), Lew Schaub (Lucerne, Switzerland), Xaver Schlaske (Germany), Alessandro Shepf (Schalke 04, Gelsenkirchen, Germany);
attackers: Marko Arnautovich (Shanghai Port, China), Michael Gregorich (Augsburg, Germany), Sasha Kalajzich (VfB Stuttgart, Germany), Karim Onisivo (Mainz 05, Germany).
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