Italy v Spain: Euro 2020 semi-final – live!

This might be better saved for the final, should England make it, but what the heck. Neither of these countries have particularly fond memories of playing on English soil in major championships. At Euro 96, Italy failed to make it through the groups, losing to eventual finalists Czech Republic and drawing with Germany, who went on to win the whole thing. Not great, but not as embarrassing as 1966, when losses to the USSR and North Korea – Pak Doo-ik, Ayresome Park, all that – sent them back home to be pelted with all manner of on-the-turn produce.

Spain meanwhile haven’t been much better in Blighty. Out at the group stage in 1966, then defeated on penalties in the Euros by England 30 years later, albeit after having two perfectly good goals disallowed for offside. Overall, both teams have lost more in England than they’ve won (8-11 and 5-9 respectively), pointless stats that will nevertheless give Gareth Southgate a little boost ahead of the final, should his team make it through tomorrow night.

This fixture can’t pass by without a mention of Luis Enrique getting his face repurposed in the Cubist style by Mauro Tassotti at the 1994 World Cup …

… though that wasn’t the first contretemps between the two European giants. The quarter-final of the 1934 World Cup saw Italy’s Mario Pizziolo depart with a broken leg, while Spain keeper Ricardo Zamora had his ribs broken and cap knocked clean off his head, the latter, less serious, offence hopefully soundtracked by slide whistle. The match ended 1-1, with a replay held the very next day; Italy won that thanks partly to a goal from Giuseppe Meazza, partly to the fact that Spain ended the game with four injured players. Of course it goes without saying that we don’t want to see such bellicose nonsense today, won’t somebody think of the kids, etc., but if it happens I’m sure we’ll all live with it.

If it’s Italy versus Spain, or Spain versus Italy, it must be the European Championships. And here we all are. Nice to see everyone again.

This is one of the great international rivalries. Spain won the very first major meeting between the two countries, at the 1920 Olympic Games … and then didn’t win another for 88 years. Italy thrashed Spain 7-1 at the 1928 Olympics, beat them in the semis of the 1934 World Cup, triumphed in the groups at Euro 88, then the quarters of USA 94. To tie this package up with a pretty bow, when lots were drawn to decide whether Spain or Turkey went to the 1954 World Cup, the small blindfolded boy who selected the Turks was Italian.

But then Spain finally lanced the boil at Euro 2008, beating the Azzurri on penalties in the quarters en route to their first major title in 44 years. Then they thrashed them 4-0 in the final four years later, beat them at the 2013 Confederations Cup, and won 3-0 at home during qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, a result that went some way to Italy failing to make the finals for the first time in 60 years. As back-and-forths go, it could probably do with better dramatic pacing.

Ah yes, and Italy ended Spain’s eight-year reign as champions with a 2-0 victory at Euro 2016. So it’s difficult to know what to make of all this.

What we do know is, this is set up just so. Italy are undefeated in all competitions since 2019, and have won their last 15 European Championship matches straight, a new tournament record. They’re unquestionably the form horse. Spain by contrast have spluttered and stuttered, a new era of tiki-hacka in which they only just scraped past Switzerland, and yet they’ve also just become the first team to score five in successive matches at a Euro finals. And every time Spain win in the quarters, they go on to lift the Henri Delaunay Trophy.

Oh, and the nations have met 37 times before, winning 11 each. Something’s got to give. But what? We’ll find out soon enough, even if there must be extra time and penalty kicks. A place in Sunday’s final is the prize. Kick off at Wembley is at 8pm BST. It’s on!