A Riccardo Calafiori own goal sent Spain into the Euro 2024 last 16 as Group B winners with a 1-0 victory over Italy.
Spain impressed again having thrashed Croatia 3-0 in their opening game and should have won in Gelsenkirchen by a bigger scoreline had it not been for a mix of superb saves from Italy’s Gianluigi Donnarumma and poor finishing.
They dominated from the start with Donnarumma called into action within two minutes, spectacularly tipping over Pedri’s close-range header.
Nico Williams terrorised Italy right-back Giovanni Di Lorenzo and should have scored with a header from inside the six-yard box before Donnarumma saved twice more from Alvaro Morata and a long-range blast from Fabian Ruiz.
Spain picked up from where they left off in the second half with Pedri side-footing a golden chance wide within minutes of the restart, but Italy did the hard work for them when defender Calafiori turned into his own net from Williams’ low cross.
Calafiori nearly scored a second, Andrea Cambiaso hacking his team-mate’s rogue header at a corner off the goal line while 16-year-old Lamine Yamal and Williams both continued to dazzle, the former sending a shot inches wide of the top left corner and the latter hitting the crossbar with a delicious curler.
Italy were simply outclassed, mustering just one shot on target, with Donnarumma keeping them in it until the final minute with a late save from substitute Ayoze Perez when one-on-one.
