By Sammy Wejinya
Stand-in Italy captain, Leonardo Bonucci has praised his teammates after Friday’s (July 2) 2-1 quarter-final victory over Belgium at the ongoing European football championships.
Nicolo Barella and Lorenzo Insigne both netted first half goals for Italy with Romelu Lukaku’s penalty representing nothing more than scant consolation as the Azzurri reached the last four at the expense of Red Devils.
Friday’s victory means Italy will now meet Spain in the semi-finals of Euro 2020. Italy have won all five games they have played in the tournament, conceding only twice while scoring 11 goals.
Bonucci has been impressed by his side’s run in the tournament and was particularly pleased with Friday’s display against the top-ranked nation in the world.
“We knew Belgium’s quality, especially in attack and the danger they posed to us on the counter,” Bonucci told RAI Sport.“We went 2-0 up and were dominating the game, then they got back into it with a dubious penalty, we did really well to hold on and showed once again how important the heart of this Italy side and of the Italians is.”
Italy boss Roberto Mancini said he believed his side deserved their win, even if they had to “suffer” through the last 10 minutes.
Italy took the lead in the 31st minute on a goal from Barella, having previously seen a goal waved off due to an offside call. They doubled that lead 13 minutes later on a goal from Insigne, but conceded a penalty just before half-time that was converted by Lukaku.
The second half of the game was far from free-flowing, but Mancini had little issue with that as his side held onto the win.
“We deserved the victory. The lads were extraordinary, and clearly we suffered in the last 10 minutes as we were really tired, but we could’ve scored more goals earlier,” the coach told RAI Sport.
“I didn’t see 25 minutes of struggle at the start. There were chances at both ends, it was an open game. We only struggled in the last 10 minutes when Belgium started playing a long ball game.”
‘It just wouldn’t end!’
©SPNAfrica News
www.spnafricanews.com
