Italy finally ends its losing run against Spain with 2-0 win

Spain may have been inferior in their 2-0 loss to Italy in the last 16 at Euro 2016 but their exit isn’t the end of an era, says coach Vicente Del Bosque.

Italy deserved its victory and was impressive from the start at Stade de France, stifling Spain’s attacking intent and creating several scoring opportunities with its slick interplay.

Giorgio Chiellini poked the ball into the net from close range in the 33rd minute after Spain goalkeeper David De Gea first parried Eder’s free kick, then blocked Emanuele Giaccherini’s follow up from the rebound.

“We played well, we had positive feelings and so much willingness to do well”, said Chiellini who scored Italy’s first in the opening half before Graziano Pelle added a late second.

After topping their group, Italy knocked out Spain, beating them 2-0 in a last 16 tie on Monday. In Euro 2012, there wasn’t any great football, but England did win twice in three matches in the group stage before a penalty shootout against Italy, obviously going against England. The English have still never won a knockout-stage game overseas in the European Championship in eight attempts and haven’t won a match beyond the group stage of a major tournament since 2006.

Italy arrived in France written off by critics back but it’s now in the hunt to win its first European Championship since 1968.

The road to the final does not get any easier for Conte’s side as they face world champions Germany in the quarter-finals.

Antonio Conte’s side finally made the breakthrough 12 minutes before half-time when Spain captain Sergio Ramos unncessarily dived in on Pelle to concede a free-kick on the edge of the box. “It was better in the second half but we couldn’t equalize”, he said.

Along with Michel, who was sacked by Olympique de Marseille in April, and former FC Porto tactician Julen Lopetegui, Caparros is widely considered as a candidate to replace Del Bosque should the 65-year-old step down.

“Right from the outset since I took over I have said that the only route forward to achieve a semblance of success is to try and be a like a club team”, said Conte, who will take over Chelsea at the end of the tournament.

Spain were outplayed by Italy for a majority of the clash and del Bosque freely admitted that his team had been second best.

We were a bit shy in the first half – we improved a bit but we couldn’t get a goal because Italy were clearly superior.

“Germany will have to be even better than we were in this game to beat us”.

Marca ran poll for supporters in which 60,748 fans voted and over 93 per cent of them believed that Del Bosque should quit as manager. “We tried everything but we couldn’t score”, he added, saying he would be discussing the immediate future with the Spanish football federation. “Spanish football has a great structure”.