Sunday, July 4, 2021 15 Insigne stunner sends Italy into semi-final clash with Spain MUNICH: A stunning strike by Lorenzo Insigne fired defeat means more European Championship quarter- Spinazzola injury Italy into the semi-finals of Euro 2020 on Friday as a final heartbreak for Belgium, who exited at the same Italy’s win came at a cost, with left-back Leonardo 2-1 win over Belgium sent them through to a last-four stage in 2016 after defeat by Wales. Belgium sorely Spinazzola out of the tournament with a leg injury. meeting with Spain. Nicolo Barella struck the opening missed their captain Eden Hazard, ruled out by a ham- “Leonardo had a great European championship. Now goal of the quarter-final in Munich before Insigne string injury, even as Kevin De Bruyne won his race to whoever replaces him will do the same,” said Italy curled in Italy’s second in an action-packed first half. shake off an ankle injury. defender Leonardo Bonucci. Italy had the ball in the net on 13 minutes when Bonucci chested it past Thibaut Courtois from a free- kick, but the goal was disallowed by VAR for an offside against captain Giorgio Chiellini. Marco Verratti and Youri Tielemans both earned yellow cards for midfield tussles involving the pair. Verratti was booked for holding Tielemans in a tackle, while the Belgian picked up a yellow card moments later for clattering into the Italian. Italy broke MUNICH: Italy’s defender Leonardo Spinazzola is stretchered the deadlock with 31 minutes played. When Belgium off the pitch injured during the Euro 2020 quarter-final foot- failed to clear, Verratti played the ball into Barella, who ball match between Belgium and Italy at the Allianz Arena in stayed on his feet, squeezed past two defenders and Munich on Friday. — AFP drilled across Courtois. A piece of brilliance on 44 minutes saw Napoli’s Insigne double the Italy lead when he was allowed to dribble to the edge of the area and then curl his shot Italy aiming to honor inside the post. However, Belgium got back into the game when a rush of blood saw Giovanni Di Lorenzo injured Spinazzola concede a penalty for using his elbow to brush off Jeremy Doku, filling in for Hazard. Lukaku stepped up and rifled in the resulting spot- with Euro 2020 glory kick to halve the deficit. With an hour gone, Belgium MUNICH: Italy’s players celebrate victory after the Euro 2020 quarter-final football match between Belgium and Italy at the had the best chance of the second half, coming agoniz- MUNICH: Lorenzo Insigne says Italy are gunning for Allianz Arena in Munich on Friday. — AFP ingly close to an equalizer, when De Bruyne’s cross led Euro 2020 glory in honor of left-back Leonardo to Lukaku having his shot blocked by the thigh of Spinazzola, who is out of a tournament he has lit up Spinazzola. after injuring his Achilles tendon in the Azzurri’s Belgium grabbed a lifeline just before the break The Manchester City playmaker showed why the Martinez brought on fresh legs up front with Dries thrilling quarter-final win over Belgium. when Romelu Lukaku converted a penalty, but medical staff worked around the clock to get him fit Mertens and Nacer Chadli for the final 20 minutes. Spinazzola, 28, was stretchered off after 79 minutes Roberto Martinez’s side ultimately fell short against a by regularly causing Italy problems, but Romelu There was an almost instant impact when Mertens fed and is expected to be sidelined for several months. “It’s disciplined Italian defense. “We scored two and we Lukaku twice was denied by Gianluigi Donnarumma. Chadli, whose cross-cum-shot was deflected by Di a great loss for us. We are now trying to go very far — could have scored more,” said Italy coach Roberto “It was a miracle that I played, because there was Lorenzo just out of the reach of Lukaku and Thorgan for him. He was so important for this team,” said Mancini. “I think the victory is fully deserved. Spain definitely damage to my ankle,” said De Bruyne. “We Hazard. With time running out, Doku fired over after Insigne, who scored the stunning second goal in are next but the more you go forward the most difficult tried everything to win that match. Getting eliminat- beating three defenders, while a last-gasp De Bruyne Friday’s 2-1 win in Munich. it becomes.” ed is always a disappointment. Too bad I couldn’t do free-kick also failed to beat the Italy defense as the “We’ll try to do everything we can to make it to the While Italy face Spain at Wembley on Tuesday, more.” Azzurri clung on. — AFP final for him,” he added ahead of Tuesday’s semi-final against Spain at Wembley. A video of the Italian team wildly cheering Spinazzola on the plane ride out of Munich went viral on social media. “We’re very sorry Germany’s Kroos for ‘Spina’, he didn’t deserve that,” said Italy coach Roberto Mancini. “He has played brilliantly, one of the retires from best players at the Euro. It’s such a shame, we wish him all the best.” Italy deserved the win in Bavaria as Nicolo Barella int’l football gave them the lead in the 31st minute before Insigne added the crucial second with a superb curling strike from outside the area. Belgium grabbed a lifeline when BERLIN: Germany midfielder Toni Kroos said Romelu Lukaku converted a penalty just before half- Friday he was retiring from international football, time, but the Red Devils could not break the disci- days after the team was knocked out of Euro 2020 plined Italian defense after the break. by England. “I have played 106 times for Germany. Azzurri fans are now dreaming of seeing four-time There will not be another time,” the 31-year-old World Cup winners Italy claim the European Real Madrid star wrote on Twitter. Championship for the first time since 1968, with Spain “I had already made the decision to retire after standing in their way in the last four. “Now we contin- this tournament,” he added, referring to the ue to dream, but with our feet on the ground,” said European championships which ended for the defender Leonardo Bonucci. “We started the Germans when they lost 2-0 to England in the last European Championship with a dream in the drawer, 16 on Tuesday at Wembley. “It had been clear to me let’s leave it there. We have a match against Spain, a for a while that I will not be available for the World national team that didn’t look like going all the way, but Cup 2022 in Qatar.” got back up. It will be a great match.”—AFP Kroos said he planned in the next years to place his “full concentration” on Real Madrid. “I would also like to be there more as husband and father for my wife and children,” he wrote. “Due to the (inter- Petkovic proud national) breaks that I will get in the future, I believe that I can recharge my battery better,” he added. Thanking supporters and critics alike, Kroos also of Swiss ‘heroes’ had special words for Joachim Loew, who bowed SAINT PETERSBURG: Spain’s goalkeeper Unai Simon saves a kick by Switzerland’s defender Manuel Akanji during a penal- out as national coach on Tuesday following 15 years ty shoot-out at the end of the Euro 2020 quarter-final football match between Switzerland and Spain at the Saint despite loss in the job. “He made me a national team player and a Petersburg Stadium in Saint Petersburg on Friday. — AFP world champion. He trusted me. We wrote a success story together.” SAINT PETERSBURG: Switzerland coach Vladimir Loew first picked Kroos for a friendly against performances which saw Spain draw their first two Petkovic hailed his players as “heroes” on Friday after Argentina in 2010. He went on to play a bit-part in Simon saves lift group games against Sweden and Poland. But the they fell just short of reaching a first major tournament that year’s World Cup campaign in South Africa 2008 and 2012 winners had made a dream start to semi-final with defeat by Spain on penalties at Euro when the Germans finished third. Four years later he this quarter-final, taking the lead in fortunate cir- 2020. The Swiss, playing in their first major quarter- was a key component, playing every minute of Spain past Swiss cumstances in only the eighth minute. final since 1954, saw Remo Freuler sent off in the 77th every game and scoring twice in the 7-1 semi-final A corner was cleared only as far as Jordi Alba, minute but hung on to force spot-kicks after a 1-1 draw demolition of hosts Brazil, as Loew’s side lifted the to reach semis whose left-footed volley was diverted past Sommer in Saint Petersburg, only to lose 3-1. World Cup trophy. by Switzerland midfielder Zakaria, only playing in “My players are the heroes of the night,” said Kroos said he had considered retiring after place of Xhaka. It was the 10th own goal of Euro Petkovic, whose side had beaten world champions Germany’s disastrous 2018 World Cup campaign in SAINT PETERSBURG: Goalkeeper Unai Simon 2020, more than the other 15 editions combined. France on penalties in a thrilling last-16 tie. “We would Russia, when they finished last in their group, but was the hero as Spain edged past 10-man Alvaro Morata wasted an excellent opportunity have deserved to go through.