The semi-final between Germany and Italy in the Euros had almost been billed as a foregone conclusion. But have Italy now become your favourites to win the European Championships?
The general feeling was that no matter how long Italy spent on football training equipment, they would not be able to best the Germans, who were the only team to enter the Euro 2012 semi-finals with a 100% success rate. There was also doubts that Italy would not have had enough time for recovery after their mammoth effort against England through extra time and penalties.
The reality though is that for 75 minutes of that game, England might as well have been wearing football bibs; it was like an extended training session for Italy, specifically Andrea Pirlo. Again he was allowed to run around the field and pull the strings for the Italians, but it took Mario Balotelli to properly arrive at the tournament and score twice to silence the Germans.
Germany showed nothing of their past finesse, with play that looked awkward and disjointed. They certainly did not look like the same players who had dismantled Greece previously.
It still took a couple of splendid saves from Buffon though, specifically from a Reus free kick for which the Italian keeper will be glad he wasn’t wearing cheap goalkeeper gloves as he tipped the ball over the bar.
In the other semi, Spain wiped the grin off of Ronaldo’s face by beating them 4-3 on penalties. Ronaldo himself missed a couple of golden chances in the game and didn’t even get to take a penalty – it wasn’t necessary as Alves struck the bar with his penalty, leaving Fabregas to score in off the post to send Spain through to their third consecutive UEFA European Football Championship final.
So a lot of bookies will have had to hastily scribble out Germany and replace it with Italy – but will Italy also be able to replace Spain on one of the greatest football trophies in the world?
Image Rights: TheNiceCiccio
