Italy started with the knife to their throat in Leverkusen. It had to fight a direct match against Ukraine – which had to move to Germany due to the war in its own country – for a European Championship ticket.
The Azzurri missed the World Cup in Qatar less than two years ago and, as defending champions, could not afford a second failure to participate in a major tournament.
Italy clearly fought against those flashbacks in the opening phase. But after a lot of shivering and shaking in the initial phase, the match gradually improved.
The new national coach Luciano Spalletti had promised the country in advance that it would fall in love with its national football heroes again. But despite combination football – which showed fragments of his reign at Napoli – the Italians could not convince in the zone of truth.
The Italian master tactician saw that his team – due to the lack of a goal – started to doubt themselves in the end and switched to a more conservative approach. Successfully. The tactical game of chess produced no spectacle, but also no more goals.
Although there was a real shock moment for the Italians in the absolute final phase. Bryan Cristante simply took down Mudryk Mykhayl in the large rectangle in the last minute. Penalty? No, despite the clear contact between the two, the referee waved the incident away.
A questionable decision with major consequences: Italy still goes to the European Championship, Ukraine is relegated to the play-offs.
2023-11-20 21:45:00
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