Match Press Kits
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UEFA EURO - 2019/21 SEASON MATCH PRESS KITS Football Arena Munich - Munich Friday 2 July 2021 21.00CET (21.00 local time) Belgium Matchday 5 - Quarter-finals Italy Last updated 12/07/2021 15:56CET Official Partners of UEFA EURO 2020 Previous meetings 2 Match background 4 Squad list 9 Match officials 11 Team facts 13 Match-by-match lineups 16 Competition facts 20 Legend 25 1 Belgium - Italy Friday 2 July 2021 - 21.00CET (21.00 local time) Match press kit Football Arena Munich, Munich Previous meetings Head to Head 2016 UEFA European Championship Stage Date Match Result Venue Goalscorers reached Giaccherini 32, Pellè 13/06/2016 GS-FT Belgium - Italy 0-2 Lyon 90+2 UEFA EURO 2000 Stage Date Match Result Venue Goalscorers reached 14/06/2000 GS-FT Italy - Belgium 2-0 Brussels Totti 6, Fiore 66 1980 UEFA European Championship Stage Date Match Result Venue Goalscorers reached 18/06/1980 GS-FT Italy - Belgium 0-0 Rome 1972 UEFA European Championship Stage Date Match Result Venue Goalscorers reached 2-1 Van Moer 23, Van 13/05/1972 QF Belgium - Italy Brussels agg: 2-1 Himst 71; Riva 86 (P) 29/04/1972 QF Italy - Belgium 0-0 Milan FIFA World Cup Stage Date Match Result Venue Goalscorers reached Pandolfini 41 (P), Galli 20/06/1954 GS-FT Italy - Belgium 4-1 Lugano 48, Frignani 58, Lorenzi 73; Anoul 81 Final Qualifying Total tournament Home Away Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L GF GA EURO Belgium - - - - - - - - 5 1 2 2 5 1 2 2 2 5 Italy - - - - - - - - 5 2 2 1 5 2 2 1 5 2 FIFA* Belgium - - - - - - - - 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 4 Italy - - - - - - - - 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 4 1 Friendlies Belgium - - - - - - - - - - - - 16 3 2 11 21 34 Italy - - - - - - - - - - - - 16 11 2 3 34 21 Total Belgium - - - - - - - - 6 1 2 3 22 4 4 14 24 43 2 Belgium - Italy Friday 2 July 2021 - 21.00CET (21.00 local time) Match press kit Football Arena Munich, Munich Final Qualifying Total tournament Home Away Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L GF GA Italy - - - - - - - - 6 3 2 1 22 14 4 4 43 24 * FIFA World Cup/FIFA Confederations Cup 3 Belgium - Italy Friday 2 July 2021 - 21.00CET (21.00 local time) Match press kit Football Arena Munich, Munich Match background Italy and Belgium meet in the second UEFA EURO 2020 quarter-final chasing a place in EURO history. With both teams having won their last 14 UEFA European Championship matches, the victors at the Football Arena Munich will set a new competition record, a mark they both currently share with Germany. • While Italy have won 14 of the sides' 22 contests, including group games at UEFA EURO 2000 and 2016, Belgium prevailed in the teams' only previous EURO quarter-final, in 1972 when they ultimately finished third. • Both sides won their section with maximum points at UEFA EURO 2020, Italy finishing first in Group A and Belgium coming top of Group B, before hard-fought wins in the round of 16. Italy needed extra time to see off Austria 2-1 at Wembley on 26 June; Belgium edged past holders Portugal 1-0 in Seville the following day. • Both teams were knocked out in the quarter-finals of UEFA EURO 2016. • The winners of this tie will play Switzerland or Spain in the semi-finals at Wembley on 6 July. Previous meetings • Belgium's record in 22 meetings with Italy is W4 D4 L14; W1 D2 L3 in competitive games. • The sides' most recent meeting came in the UEFA EURO 2016 group stage, goals from Emanuele Giaccherini (32) and Graziano Pellè (90+3) giving Antonio Conte's Italy a 2-0 Matchday 1 win in Lyon against a Belgium side coached by Marc Wilmots. That helped the Azzurri finish top of Group E, level on six points with runners-up Belgium, who also progressed. Ten members of Belgium's UEFA EURO 2020 squad played in that encounter as opposed to just three from Italy's. • That was the nations' third meeting at the EURO final tournament, a goalless draw in Turin in 1980 enabling Belgium to reach the final at the hosts' expense. Twenty years later Italy helped to eliminate the UEFA EURO 2000 co-hosts in the group stage with a 2-0 victory in Brussels, Francesco Totti and Stefano Fiore scoring. • The nations' last friendly – and first since May 2008 – took place in November 2015, Belgium coming from behind to defeat Italy 3-1 in Brussels. Jan Vertonghen, Kevin De Bruyne and Michy Batshuayi scored for the hosts in reply to Antonio Candreva's early strike. • Belgium's sole competitive triumph against Italy came in the quarter-finals of the 1972 UEFA European Championship. They prevailed 2-1 in Brussels after a goalless draw in Milan to eliminate the holders. EURO facts: Belgium • This is Belgium's second successive UEFA European Championship final tournament and their sixth EURO in total. • The Red Devils' biggest achievement to date was reaching the final of this tournament in 1980, when they lost 2-1 to West Germany in Rome. • In 2016, Belgium's first EURO finals since they co-hosted UEFA EURO 2000 with the Netherlands, a team coached by Wilmots finished second in Group E and beat Hungary 4-0 in the round of 16 – their biggest EURO finals victory – only to suffer a 3-1 quarter-final defeat by Wales. • This time round, Roberto Martínez's side won all ten of their qualifiers to finish first in Group I, increasing the number of countries to have reached the finals with a perfect record to eight, Italy also having achieved the feat in the UEFA EURO 2020 preliminaries. Of the previous six to have won every qualifier, however, only Spain (2012) went on to win the tournament itself. • The 9-0 win against San Marino on 10 October 2019 is Belgium's biggest UEFA European Championship victory. • Belgium were the top scorers in qualifying overall with 40 goals in their ten matches. Fifteen different Belgium players found the net in qualifying. • The Red Devils conceded only three goals, the joint best record along with Turkey. • Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne both provided seven assists in qualifying, fewer only than the Netherlands' Memphis Depay (eight). Hazard scored five goals to De Bruyne's four; Romelu Lukaku managed seven goals and four assists. • Belgium have extended their winning run in the competition to 14 at the final tournament. They beat Russia (3-0) and Finland (2-0) in Saint Petersburg either side of a 2-1 comeback victory against Denmark in Copenhagen to finish six points clear at the top of Group B, before Thorgan Hazard's 42nd-minute goal at the Stadium La Cartuja Sevilla proved enough for them to see off Portugal in the round of 16. • That 1972 success against Italy is Belgium's only win in a EURO quarter-final; they lost to the Netherlands in 1976 (0-5 a, 1-2 h) and Wales in 2016 (1-3). 4 Belgium - Italy Friday 2 July 2021 - 21.00CET (21.00 local time) Match press kit Football Arena Munich, Munich • This is Belgium's first game at the Football Arena Munich and only their second in the city, following a 0-0 friendly draw against West Germany in September 1982. • Belgium's record in Germany is W2 D3 L9, their last visit a 3-1 UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying defeat in Düsseldorf in October 2011. Their last victory in the country was a 2-1 UEFA European Championship qualifying success against East Germany in Leipzig in March 1983. EURO facts: Italy • This is Italy's tenth EURO final tournament and their seventh in a row since sitting out the 1992 edition in Sweden. Only twice have they failed to advance through the group stage, in 1996 and 2004; they were quarter-finalists at UEFA EURO 2016. • Italy triumphed on home soil at the 1968 UEFA European Championship and have been runners-up twice since – in 2000 and 2012. • This time round, Roberto Mancini's side won all ten of their qualifiers to finish first in Group J, swelling the number of countries to have reached the finals with a perfect record to eight. • A 3-0 win away to Bosnia and Herzegovina in their penultimate qualifier was Italy's tenth successive win in all internationals, the first time in their history they had achieved that feat. • The Azzurri made it 11 straight victories with a 9-1 home win against Armenia in their final qualifying game, the first time they had scored nine goals in a game since August 1948. Seven different players were on the scoresheet, a new national record. • Having never scored three goals in a EURO finals game before this tournament, Italy managed it in both their first two matches, beating Switzerland and Turkey 3-0 at the Olimpico in Rome, where they secured first place in Group A with a 1-0 defeat of Wales on Matchday 3. • Italy squeezed past Austria in the last 16 in London, extra-time goals from subsitutes Federico Chiesa (95) and Matteo Pessina (105) taking them into a fourth successive EURO quarter-final. • That made Italy's record in knockout ties at the EURO final tournament W8 L6. • That 1972 defeat by Belgium is one of three EURO quarter-final ties Italy have lost, the others both on penalties, against Spain in 2008 and Germany in 2016.