It was a chorus with a difference. As the jubilant Italians celebrated knocking out the world’s top-ranked team, Belgium, the song on the plane back home went: “Ole, ole, ole, Spina, Spina.”
Victory came at a considerable cost. Leonardo Spinazzola’s torn achilles meant he underwent surgery in Finland on Monday. Roberto Mancini declared the left-back “one of the best players in this tournament.” In typical fashion, the new Roma manager thought of himself. “Imagine for me,” said Jose Mourinho, who will be unable to pick Spinazzola for months.
It is safe to say the rest of Italy has greater concerns. Spinazzola was shaping up as the 2021 answer to Fabio Grosso, a left-back who entered a tournament without much of a profile outside his homeland but who became a talismanic figure as the Azzurri tasted glory.
Instead, Italy’s hopes may rest with a player whose last domestic league game came in 2020. Emerson Palmieri is Chelsea’s third-choice left-back. He featured for 89 minutes in the Premier League, none of them under Thomas Tuchel. While he came off the bench to clinch Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Atletico Madrid, even that was as an 89th-minute replacement. Mancini, who gave him starts in the Nations League against Poland and Bosnia in autumn, has appeared more of an admirer than his club managers.
The Italy coach had tried to engineer a move for a bit-part player. “He told me that it might be better for me to join another ambitious club where I could play as much as possible,” Emerson said last month. Mancini’s manoeuvrings were unsuccessful. Emerson was stuck, confined to cameos, plus the FA Cup and World Cup qualifiers in 2021. Until Spinazzola’s injury marred the win over Belgium. Now a spectator may have 180 minutes of Euro 2020 action ahead of him, charged with emulating an idiosyncratic player who has made Italy’s tactics work.
Spinazzola seemed the left-back and left winger all in one. He has been a one-man, right-footed left flank, permitting Mancini’s 4-3-3 formation to become a fluid 3-3-4 or 3-2-5 when attacking and allowing Lorenzo Insigne, nominally the man ahead of him, to cut infield and operate as a quasi No 10. He has been clocked at 33kph, the fastest speed any player in the tournament has reached, and that pace has been necessary to cover as much ground as he has.
Two assists are evidence of his impact in the final third. Given Spain’s difficulties defending the aerial ball, they may be relieved a man who has completed 71 per cent of his crosses is missing. If Emerson shares similar attacking instincts, and was signed by Antonio Conte when Chelsea were playing wing-backs, he lacks the same record of creating goals and it will be difficult to replicate every aspect of Spinazzola’s contribution. Before he pulled up in pain on Friday, he made a brilliant goal-saving intervention to deny Romelu Lukaku an equaliser.
Mancini has been able to swap other players intelligently – Marco Verratti for Manuel Locatelli, Federico Chiesa for Domenico Berardi, Francesco Acerbi when Giorgio Chiellini was injured – but Emerson may find himself charged with replacing the irreplaceable. There has been the sense that the system has been the star for Italy that, without any of the game’s Galacticos, they have prospered by being the best-coached ensemble and finding a way of getting gifted, energetic players to complement each other.
Spinazzola’s valedictory message was to believe in the collective. “Our Italian dream continues and with this amazing group of ours nothing is impossible,” he wrote on Instagram. Nothing felt impossible with him. Without him, does the pendulum swing Spain’s way?
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BELGIUM RATINGS: Thibaut Courtois 6 - Not much the Real Madrid goalkeeper could have done about either goal. Wasn’t helped out by his defence with either effort. -
Jan Vertonghen 5 - Careless on the opening goal by not clearing lines soon enough. Italy had too much space at times on the edge of the box. -
Thomas Vermaelen 7 - The 35-year-old defender looked the most assured of the three on Friday night. -
Toby Alderweireld 6 - Dealt with Ciro Immobile well but could have pressed Insigne before the attacker was able to shoot. -
Thorgan Hazard 6 - Nowhere near as influential as in the game against Portugal but defended astutely on the left hand side. -
Youri Tielemans 6 - Took care of the ball but didn’t take too many risks on the night. Italy's midfield seemed to control the midfield best of the two sides. -
Axel Witsel 6 - Not involved too much on either side tonight. Positive runs in the last stages of the game saw the midfielder find space but he couldn’t produce when on the ball. -
Thomas Meunier 6 - Kept at bay by Spinazzola in a battle which seemed to nullify both players. -
Jeremy Doku 7 - Positive on the ball and looked to attack Di Lorenzo at every opportunity. A bright display from the Belgium winger whose efforts won his side a penalty. Belgium’s brightest spark on the night. -
Kevin De Bruyne 7 - Given too much space at times as the Manchester City man was able to run at the defence but nothing came of De Bruyne’s production at the Allianz Arena. -
Romelu Lukaku 7 - Linked well with De Bruyne to get into good attacking positions and took his penalty well, waiting for the goalkeeper to move before striking into the middle of the goal. -
SUBS: Dries Mertens (Tielemans 70) N/R - On for Tielemans with Belgium needing an equaliser. -
Nacer Chadli (Meunier 70) N/R - Injured moments after being introduced. -
Dennis Praet (Chadli 74) - On for Chadli for the final stage of the game. -
ITALY RATINGS: Gianluigi Donnarumma 7 - A strong hand at full stretch denied Kevin De Bruyne whose left foot strike was heading straight for the corner. Kept cool throughout the game and commanded his box well. -
Leonardo Spinazzola 7 - The Roma man has been a standout with his attacking throughout Euro 2020 but his block against Romelu Lukaku kept Italy ahead just after the hour mark. Suffered an injury which may see him out for a number of weeks. -
Giorgio Chiellini 7 - Back into the squad after suffering an injury in the group stages. A leader’s performance from the veteran defender. A crucial block late-on helped keep Belgium out. -
Leonardo Bonucci 7 - Almost opened the scoring before VAR intervened. Solid in defence and passed the ball out from the back well. -
Giovanni Di Lorenzo 5 - Struggled to deal with the pace of Jeremy Doku who played fearlessly on the left flank. A costly penalty gave Belgium a lifeline in the game. -
Marco Verratti 7 - Booked in the first half but stood-out with a number of good tackles made. Calm on the ball. -
Jorginho 7 - Kept play ticking at the heart of Italy’s midfield and didn’t look phased when under pressure. -
Nicolo Barella 8 - Kept cool and snuck through the Belgium backline before blasting past Thibaut Courtois for the opener. -
Lorenzo Insigne 8 - Constantly put the defence in difficult situations and the Napoli star’s curling effort to double Italy’s lead was straight from the top drawer. -
Ciro Immobile 5 - Didn’t stop trying but struggled against Belgium’s defensive setup. Off the pace. -
Federico Chiesa 6 - Often tried to work a yard before getting a strike at goal and came close just before half time with a curling effort from outside of the box. -
SUBS: Bryan Cristante (Verratti, 75) N/R - On to help defend out the 2-1 lead in the last 15 minutes. -
Andrea Belotti (Immobile, 75) N/R - Not much to do with Italy defending out the game. -
Emerson (Spinazzola, 80) N/R - On for the injured Spinazzola -
Domenico Berardi (Insigne 80) N/R - Picked up a yellow card when leaving the wall too early. -
Rafael Toloi (Chiesa 90) N/R - On for added time to see out the game.
