18:00
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live, minute-by-minute(ish) coverage of Italy v Spain at San Siro. You could be forgiven for not knowing chapter and verse about the 2020-21 Nations League, so here’s a peedie refresher: Italy, Spain, France and Belgium qualified for the finals tournament by finishing top of their groups in League A, and on Sunday night one of them will succeed Portugal as Nations League winners. Confused? Splendid. Now all I need is are the three digits on the back of your card.
The tournament is taking place in Italy, specifically at San Siro and the Allianz Stadium in Turin. France and Belgium meet tomorrow in a repeat of the 2018 World Cup semi-final. Tonight’s game is a repeat of the Euro 2020 semi-final, in which Italy suffered an almighty fright before winning on penalties.
Italy went on to win the tournament, as you may not remember. As well as being European champions, they are world-record holders: they haven’t lost for 37 matches, the longest unbeaten run in international football history. Spain were their toughest opponents at the Euros, though, and have one of the more exciting young teams in world football. Lest we forget – and I’ll be honest, I had – they plugged Germany 6-0 en route to the Nations League finals.
It’s not the World Cup, it’s not the European Championship. But nor is it international football’s answer to the Intertoto Cup. Let’s be clear: to those involved, this really matters.
Kick off 7.45pm BST, 8.45pm in Milan.
Updated