Italy 1-1 Spain (aet; 4-2 pens): Euro 2020 semi-final – as it happened

But it’s Italy’s night! Federico Chiesa scored the best goal of the game, while the Italian defence does what Italian defences do. Spain spent the evening passing and probing, but could only find a way through once. Small margins, but Italy have now won 16 straight games in this Euro 2020 tournament, and are just one more win from glory. It’ll either be Italy-England or Italy-Denmark in the final of Euro 2020 on Sunday. Make sure you join Paul Doyle tomorrow night to find out how it all pans out. Jonathan Liew’s match report has landed; you know what to do. Congratulations to Italy, commiserations to Spain, and thanks for reading this MBM! Nighty night.

Saying that Italy deserve to reach the final doesn’t mean Spain didn’t as well. It was just one of those matches, that’s all. Both teams were immense. But in the end, and even though it was his goal that kept Spain in the game, it was Alvaro Morata’s desperate lack of confidence that did for his side. Such a shame anyone had to lose. Such a shame anyone had to miss. But after all the flak Morata’s taken, it’s awful that he’s the one who missed the crucial kick. Thiago, old and wise, gives young Pedri, in floods of tears, a cuddle and a calming word or two. When it all comes down, they’ll be proud of their efforts. Nobody expected too much of them at Euro 2020, and they’ve been exceptional.

Wembley goes wild as the Italian squad collapses in on itself, in a celebratory pile. An awful lot of cavorting going on. Lorenzo Insigne wears Leonardo Spinazzola’s shirt as he jigs about, smiles as wide as the Wembley arch. Roberto Mancini has already lost his natty sports jacket. Now they’re in a huddle, Mancini’s speech met with a united roar. Then the players race towards their fans as one. They deserve this party. They deserve to reach the final. It’s going to be a long night!

Penalties: Italy 4-2 Spain. All of a sudden, it’s match point! Jorginho sends Simon to the left, with a skip and a flick of the eyes, and rolls into the bottom right. Italy are in the final!

Penalties: Italy 3-2 Spain. Morata, so often the fall guy with fans and press alike, hits weakly towards the bottom right. Poor penalty. Saved by Donnarumma. The blood drains from Morata’s face.

Penalties: Italy 3-2 Spain. Bernardeschi hits the top-right postage stamp. What a spot kick!

Penalties: Italy 2-2 Spain. A skip, and Thiago whips insouciantly into the bottom left. That was ice-cool.

Penalties: Italy 2-1 Spain. Bonucci sends Simon the wrong way, passing into the bottom right. Calm as you like from a player who has missed one or two in the past.

Penalties: Italy 1-1 Spain. Moreno stutters but sweeps into the top right. Donnarumma wasn’t far away from that.

Penalties: Italy 1-0 Spain. Belotti lashes into the bottom left. Simon guessed correctly, but had no chance.

Penalties: Italy 0-0 Spain. Olmo looks more confident ... but in going for the top left, skies it. Oh dear.

Penalties: Italy 0-0 Spain. Locatelli, a look of fear in his eyes, goes first. His poor effort, dragged towards the bottom left, is parried easily by Simon. Immediate advantage Spain.

A fair bit of pow-wow between the two captains, Chiellini and Spain’s stand-in Alba. Chiellini laughs a lot, Alba less so as his Italian counterpart cheekily roughs up his jowls. Italy to go first.

Italy’s shoot-out record in major competition is four wins, seven losses. Spain have won six, and lost four. One of those Spanish wins was the scrappy affair against the Swiss in the last round, a fact that may buoy Italy, because no team has ever won two shoot-outs at a Euros final.

ET 30 min: There will be five seconds of added time ...

ET 29 min: Torres strides forward and slips a pass to Pedri, who looks to lay off the return on the edge of the box. Locatelli batters clear. There’s a lot of desperate praying, the parlaying of karma, going on in the stands right now.

ET 28 min: Bonucci goes into the book for hanging a high boot across Morata. The tension!

ET 27 min: Spain have completed 812 passes to Italy’s 299. Stats don’t always tell a story, but there’s a tale, right there. “It’s such a shame one side has to lose,” writes Paul Griffin. “They are so hard to separate. Perhaps Uefa should intervene and eliminate both, with a walkover for whoever’s in the other side of the draw. It’s only fair.” A generous offer.

ET 25 min: Belotti latches onto a loose ball and very nearly releases Berardi down the middle. The ball is crucially intercepted by Torres. The tension!

ET 24 min: Spain stroke it around at the back. Italy let them. It’s a bit like that right now. Can anyone suddenly spring into action and find what would surely be a winner? “Italian defence has run extra miles today, with Spain also playing two extra time. Denmark is sniffing something.” Yash Gupta also cheekily pushing a few buttons there.

ET 22 min: It’s getting really scrappy now, with both teams looking a little frazzled, mentally as much as physically I’ll be bound.

ET 20 min: Garcia is forced off with cramp, and on comes Torres. From the restart, Berardi is sprung clear down the left. He sticks out a telescopic leg, hooking across Simon and into the top right ... but the flag goes up for offside. The correct decision. He was a fair way off.

ET 18 min: Thiago gives Donnarumma the eyes and tries to Gary McAllister a free kick into the bottom left from the best part of 40 yards. Nope! The ball breaks off Berardi and is easily claimed by the keeper.

ET 17 min: Italy replace the spent Chiesa with Bernardeschi.

ET 16 min: The ball’s shuttled back to Donnarumma, and Morata is not far away from closing down his clearance. “Will Spain sub on penalty specialist De Gea if still 1-1 with a minute to go?” quips Simon Clarke, who let’s be honest, is deliberately pressing buttons.

Italy get the second half of extra time underway. Spain swap Busquets, who is on a yellow, for a determined-looking Thiago.

ET 15 min: Rodri plays a clever ball down the right to release Llorente into space. The resulting low cross is no good, though.

ET 14 min: Olmo, prompting in the number ten role, slips a pass down the inside-right channel and nearly releases Morata. A bit too much juice on the ball, but what a game the young Leipzig winger is having.

ET 12 min: Moreno crosses from the right. Donnarumma beats Morata in the middle with a punch. The ball breaks to Llorente, who takes a snap shot from 12 yards. Chiellini sticks out a leg to block brilliantly. Italy clear. Just.

ET 10 min: Italy are running out of energy. They’re being given the runaround by Spain, who are turning the screw a little with their old possession game. On that subject, here’s Thomas Jaggers: “Surely now with Spain having the upper hand and, I would imagine, not wanting to settle for penalties, now would be the time to introduce Traore to run at the tired, ageing Italian defence.”

ET 8 min: Olmo whips the ball through the thicket and towards the bottom right. It nearly flies in! Donnarumma parries out to Morata, who starts a pinball game in the six-yard box. With other Italian hearts in mouths, Cheillini is the picture of calmness as he shepherds out a ball that clanks off Busquets and dribbles a couple of inches wide of the left-hand post. Blimey!

ET 7 min: Olmo has been Spain’s star turn this evening. He dances his way down the left and forces Toloi into a panicked rugby tackle. Booking, and free kick in a dangerous position.

ET 5 min: Belotti has landed on the old coccyx. Ooyah, oof. Play stops so he can take a quick breather.

ET 4 min: Spain stroke it around the back in the style of classic-era Italy. No rush.

ET 2 min: Olmo takes it himself, but there’s some hanky panky in the line-out, and it’s a free kick for Italy. The pressure off.

ET 1 min: The livewire Olmo turns Toloi out on the left and is brought down. Free kick. Everyone lines up on the edge of the Italian box.

Spain get the first half of extra time underway. No changes at the break.

90 min +2: Toloi tries to spring Belotti clear down the right but overhits his pass and Simon is able to reach the edge of his box to gather.

90 min +1: The first of three added minutes sees the excellent Olmo win, then waste, a corner.

90 min: Olmo dribbles towards the Italy box and slips a pass down the middle, hoping to spring a white shirt free. Chiellini drops to intercept ... and the ball brushes his hand as he clears. There are screams for a penalty, but it’s not going to be awarded. To be fair, it hit his arm when he was facing the other way.

89 min: Toloi plays a clever first-time pass down the right channel that Berardi simply doesn’t expect. Shame for Italy, because that would have turned the Spanish back line inside out.

88 min: Space for Morata down the left. He’s got white shirts to look for in the middle, but clumsily runs the ball out for a goal kick. Both teams suddenly look a little skittish. Can you blame them?

87 min: Jorginho leaves a leg in on Pedri, and should probably be booked, but the ref’s been pretty laissez faire this evening.

86 min: Locatelli and Belotti come on for Insigne and Barella, while Azpilicueta makes way for Llorente.

84 min: Morata, all energy now, races down the right, checks and cuts back for Moreno, who looks for the top left from the edge of the box but sends his shot miles over the bar. “Can these two play again tomorrow?” quips Richard Hirst.

82 min: Olmo’s corner finds Busquets, eight yards out. The Spanish captain loops a header towards the top left, with Donnarumma on walkabout. The ball floats wide left of the goal. Morata wasn’t too far away from getting to that and steering home.

81 min: Wembley has been bubbling all evening. It’s positively cooking now! And Spain have their tails up, Rodri working hard down the right to win a corner. The Italian defence suddenly looks a little ragged.

79 min: Spain ship possession on the edge of their own box, not for the first time tonight. Berardi aims a curler for the bottom left, but takes his sweet time and telegraphs is slightly. Easy for Simon.

78 min: See also: Simon’s ever-erratic kicking. Now he races out of his area to blooter a clearance straight at Laporte and out for a throw. On another day, that was pinging back into his unguarded net, and that would have been even more farcical than the Croatia fiasco.

77 min: The corner is dealt with easily enough. Morata really should have taken his shot first time, when there was a realistic chance of beating Donnarumma. His lack of confidence writ large.

76 min: Busquets slips Morata into the box down the right. He’s facing a tight angle, but hovers and hovers before eventually shooting, when the angle is super-difficult. The ball is deflected out easily for a corner.

74 min: A double change for Italy, as Pessina and Toloi come on for Emerson and Verratti. Toloi will take Di Lorenzo’s place at right back; Di Lorenzo will switch to the other flank.

73 min: Italy ping it around the back. They look confident. Perhaps too confident, because Donnarumma clanks a woeful pass straight at Morata. Fortunately for the Italian keeper, the Spanish striker can’t control, and the ball pings out for an Italian throw.

71 min: Pedri chases a lost cause down the left and digs out a cross. It’s dropping at the far post. Donnarumma is flapping and spinning, but gets out of jail thanks to Azpilicueta’s clumsy - and needless - block. Free kick.

70 min: Oyarzabal, who has passed up Spain’s two biggest chances of the evening, makes way for Moreno, while Koke is replaced by Rodri.

68 min: Having come so close to equalising, Spain nearly go two down, Chiesa threading a ball through to Berardi, just inside the box on the right. Berardi aims for the near post, where Simon kicks clear. Good luck guessing which way this is going to go, because it’s balanced on the sharp proverbial.

67 min: Oyarzabal hasn’t given up the ghost, though. On the edge of the Italian box, with his back to goal, he cushions a long ball down for Olmo, who thrashes a vicious low drive inches wide right. On target, Donnarumma wasn’t getting that; he was rooted to the spot.

65 min: Spain should be level. Koke, 25 yards out and a little to the left of centre, chips a glorious ball over the Italian back line and down towards Oyarzabal on the penalty spot. Any contact, and he’s surely flashing that into the net. But he makes none! As the Wembley crowd coo, and the ball bounces harmlessly wide of the right-hand post, poor Oyarzabal wears the look of a man staring exactly 1,000 yards into the distance. Drained and pained.

63 min: Spain win a corner down the left, but don’t do much with it. They look collectively rattled. The blow of conceding such an excellent goal on the counter, having been probing dangerously down the other end, I guess.

62 min: Chiesa is one heck of a player ... and he clearly likes playing here at Wembley, having scored another cracker against Austria last week. That was some finish, too.

61 min: Before the restart, Immobile is replaced by Berardi, and Torres makes way for Morata.

58 min: Oyarzabal finds a little space, 25 yards out, and sends a rising shot towards the top right. Donnarumma is behind it all the way, but it needed a safe pair of hands nonetheless. A fine strike.

57 min: Olmo wins a ball out on the flank that he had no right to win. He scuttles away from a couple of blue shirts and feeds the ball infield. With Italy light at the back all of a sudden, Torres has options either side. He dallies far too long, and his shot is blocked. What a waste of a good opportunity.

55 min: Spain slow it down with some good old-fashioned sterile domination.

53 min: Italy respond by breaking quickly up the other end, Immobile’s attack-launching flick shuttled out right for Chiesa, who tries to catch Simon out at his near post. Simon drops to smother.

52 min: Olmo glides down the right and rolls a ball across the face of the Spanish box for Busquets, who creams a first-time shot towards the top-right corner. Just over, and had it been on target, it wasn’t clear that Donnarumma was getting there.

51 min: The first booking of the evening goes to Busquets, who hacks Immobile to the ground as the Italian striker was in the business of spinning him. It wasn’t the worst foul in isolation, and though you could make a case for it being just about worth a yellow, it’s almost certainly an accumulation thing,

50 min: Olmo crosses deep from the right. With Torres on his shoulder, Di Lorenzo does extremely well to volley out for a corner. Nothing comes of that.

49 min: Italy come back at Spain immediately, Immobile’s bustle earning a pocket of space just outside the box. He tries to scoop over Simon, stranded in no-man’s land off his line, but gets it all wrong and the ball bobbles harmlessly wide right.

48 min: Simon shanks a clearance under no pressure whatsoever, and it’s an Italian corner out of nothing. The crowd, perhaps mindful of his howler against Croatia, give him the bird. Nothing comes of the resulting set piece.

47 min: Oyarzabal and Olmo take turns to perform a couple of tricks down the right, and for a second nearly look like causing the Italian back line a bit of bother. But the gaps are quickly closed by the wily Azzurri.

OK, so we’re just 45 minutes away from extra time, and possible penalty kicks. Italy get the clock ticking on all that. Neither manager has made a change at the break. Meanwhile, would anyone like to live in the Simon McMahon multiverse? I only ask because I’m in. “In my alternate universe Euros,” he writes, “Scotland would have given both of these teams a good hiding. The final against North Macedonia is too close to call though.”

Half-time entertainment. Yes, it’s more hot national anthem action, courtesy of Paul Roche. “The Italian anthem was not always sung with such gusto,” he reports. “Check out the World Cup of 1994.”

That is indeed quite a low-energy piece. Though to be fair, there was much less emphasis placed on performative feeling and passion back in the day, as illustrated by this example of the now-blood-curdling haka ...

45 min: Insigne dribbles in from the left, drawing two white shirts and reverse-passing Emerson into space. Emerson, facing a tight angle, goes for the top left and clips the top of the bar! The ball twangs out for a goal kick.

43 min: Pedri tries to one-two his way through the Italian defence down the left, but the return from Olmo is overhit and Donnarumma claims.

41 min: Italy slow it down a little. Now it’s the turn of the Spain fans to whistle their dissatisfaction.

39 min: Busquets and Pedri combine smoothly down the inside-left channel. Pedri then slides a diagonal pass towards Oyarzabal, just to the right of the D. Oyarzabal opts to take a first-time shot, aiming for a spectacular curler into the top-left. He does indeed find the top left, but only of the stand behind the goal. Full marks for ambition, though, and it was a lovely sweeping move.

37 min: Emerson romps down the middle, into a lot of space with great passion. He’s got options on both sides, but takes one stride too many and is eventually robbed by Busquets. Spain looked very light at the back there, so that has to go down as a missed opportunity to bother Simon, one way or another.

35 min: Di Lorenzo leaves one on Torres, causing the referee to point and wag his finger. No booking though. On that subject, here’s Kári Tulinius: “I didn’t expect these teams to contest such a frantic match. Even Busquets seems a bit flustered. This game will probably be settled by a player who finds a pocket of calm in the midst of the storm. Or emotions will boil over in the old style. Felix Brych was in charge during Belgium-Portugal, which got fairly traditional, tackling-wise.”

34 min: Insigne has been fairly quiet, but now he one-twos with Immobile and nearly opens Spain up down the left. Azpilicueta shepherds him out of play for a goal kick.

33 min: Olmo is causing Italy all sorts of bother. Now he worries the thin blue back line with a purposeful skitter down the inside right. He reaches the edge of the D before, with options either side, sending a swerving shot over the bar. He’s now got Torres and Oyarzabal giving him trenchant advice in stereo.

31 min: Chiesa races down the right touchline at warp speed. For a second it looks like he’ll be sensationally breaking clear, but Laporte squeezes him out elegantly.

29 min: Di Lorenzo springs Immobile clear down the right wing, while Spain were pressing high. Too much on the pass, which Simon comes off his line to gather. A better ball, and Italy were in.

27 min: Donnarumma’s awful clearance falls straight to Garcia in the centre circle. Garcia returns it to Olmo on the edge of the Italian box. Chiellini clatters him inside the D, fairly according to the ref, unfairly according to the Spaniard. We play on as Olmo sits gesticulating.

25 min: Olmo tries to release Torres down the inside-left channel with a cute backheel, but Italy half clear. Spain come again, through Oyarzabal on the right. His cross breaks to Olmo, who barges through a Bonucci challenge and is clear on the penalty spot! He shoots low left, but Donnarumma gets down to parry and clear. Not sure how this is still goalless.

23 min: Chiesa is in a lot of space down the right. Chiellini tries to quarterback him free, but overcooks the pass. Both teams are going for this, and it’s making for a fine spectacle.

21 min: A huge chance for Italy goes begging! Emerson gets in ahead of Azplicueta down the left. Simon rushes towards the edge of his box, but loses the race. Emerson rolls across the face of the box, the goal unguarded, to Immobile. He’s got to shoot quickly to take advantage of Simon’s desertion, but he dallies, then hands off to Insigne who is swarmed. Spain sigh with relief.

19 min: Nothing comes of the set piece. This is good fun, both teams having already enjoyed a little share of the ascendency.

18 min: Insigne dinks it over the melee of players on the edge of the Spanish box, straight into the arms of Simon. One of those that looks a bit daft, but would have looked very clever had an Italian read Insigne’s intent and stuck out a leg to connect. The Spanish go straight up the other end, Olmo winning a corner on the left.

17 min: Barella snatches the ball of Busquets and is dragged back by the arm. Not enough for a yellow card, according to the referee, though you’ve seen them given. It’s a free kick to Italy, though, 35 yards out, just left of centre.

15 min: Torres latches onto a loose Barella ball in the centre circle, strides forward, tricks his way past Jorginho down the inside-left channel, and whistles a low drive wide left. Spain are bossing this now; Italy’s fast start already seems a long time ago.

13 min: Nope. Oyarzabal wasn’t offside. He’d timed his run perfectly, and Pedri’s pass was slide-rule perfection. What a let-off for Italy!

12 min: Spain are beginning to dominate possession. More pretty passes. Then the rapier thrust, as Pedri fires a pass down the middle for Oyarzabal, who is free on the penalty spot! Not sure whether he was offside or not, but we’ll never know because he can’t control and Italy clear.

10 min: Spain paint a few pretty triangles, slowly pushing Italy back. Then suddenly Busquets and Koke pick up the pace, and feed Azpilicueta down the right. The Chelsea captain takes too long over his cross - or was it an attempted curler towards the top left? - and whatever it is gets blocked.

8 min: Spain aren’t dealing particularly well with Italy’s high press at the moment. Busquets, Garcia and Azpilicueta take turns to hesitate over clearances, nearly allowing the livewire Verratti in on a couple of occasions. Verratti is snapping away at their heels like billy-o. It’s very impressive, though you already get the sense he’s one mistimed lunge away from trouble.

6 min: Spain get a foot on the ball for the first time in the match, and stroke it around the back awhile. Italy’s fans give them the bird. All good pantomime stuff.

5 min: Now it’s Immobile’s turn to be marginally offside, as he chases Jorginho’s pass down the right channel. Italy have flown out of the traps, just as they did against Belgium.

4 min: Wembley catches its breath as Emerson shovels a lovely pass down the let wing for Barella. He’s free! For a second it looks as though Barella will be able to round the outrushing Simon. He can’t quite do it, but checks, takes careful aim, and curls a gorgeous shot around Simon towards the top right. The ball twangs off the post and away, at which point the flag goes up - correctly - for offside. Wow.

2 min: Wembley is the old cauldron of cliche. Atmosphere’s a-bubblin’! Lovely. Major championship semi-final, going on right here.

Spain get the party started. The first foul is whistled after a mere 30 seconds, Verratti coming through the back of Olmo. The referee wanders across and tells him to calm it down a bit. We play on.

The look of sheer joy on Italy captain’s Giorgio Chiellini’s face as he completed the final bars of his anthem! A smile as wide as the Wembley arch. He then bounced off like Tigger. You have to feel sorry for his opposite number Sergio Busquets, who can’t compete with theatrical passion like that ... not least because the Spanish anthem has no words. Anyway, here we go.

The teams are out! A 60,000-strong Wembley crowd, making one hell of a racket, greet Italy in their azzurri shirts. Spain play in second-choice white, the only nod to Real Madrid in this squad. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes!

Pre-match postbag. “If you are feeling burnt out on anthem coverage, remember, it could always be worse. Ask anyone but the most patriotic Mexican national how they feel about standing at attention for all ten stanzas of the Mexican national anthem” - Billy Connolly Mary Waltz.

“Immobile’s penalty box shin-grabbing shenanigans were as operatic as this well-known aria with a name that bears a striking resemblance to his. Frankly, there should be Ciro tolerance for that kind of stuff” - Peter Oh.

Some more pre-match reading.

The national anthems. It’s been a long month, and we’ve been down this road many times before, so just to mix it up a bit, here are the anthems of Italy and Spain being played on the bagpipes. Listen closely and you may also hear the bottom of a barrel being scraped at Guardian Towers.

Italy make one enforced change to the XI sent out to blow Belgium away in the first half of that whirlwind quarter-final in Munich. The brilliant, unfortunate and much-missed Leonardo Spinazzola’s place is taken, as it was on the evening he pulled up with a ruptured Achilles, by Emerson of Chelsea.

Spain make three changes to the side named for their quarter-final scrape past Switzerland in Saint Petersburg. Dani Olmo, Mikel Oyarzabal and Eric Garcia step up; Pau Torres and Alvaro Morata are benched, while Pablo Sarabia is injured.

Spain have won all four of their semi-finals at the Euros. Three of the games went to extra time; two of them ended in penalty shootouts. Those results: 2-1 v Hungary (aet) in 1964, 1-1 v Denmark (aet, 5-4 pens) in 1984, 3-0 v Russia in 2008 and 0-0 v Portugal (aet, 4-2 pens) in 2012. The most comprehensive of those victories can be relived below, in the fashionable MBM format of the day.

Italy’s most exciting performance in a Euro semi? Almost certainly Mario Balotelli’s signature artistic achievement, the 2-1 win over Germany at Euro 2012. But their most quintessential? This catenaccio-infused Dutch fiasco at Euro 2000, rendered here in a very early MBM. You can read more about that, plus five other doozies, in this classic Joy of Six.

This might be better saved for the final, should England make it, but what the heck. Neither of these countries have particularly fond memories of playing on English soil in major championships. At Euro 96, Italy failed to make it through the groups, losing to eventual finalists Czech Republic and drawing with Germany, who went on to win the whole thing. Not great, but not as embarrassing as 1966, when losses to the USSR and North Korea – Pak Doo-ik, Ayresome Park, all that – sent them back home to be pelted with all manner of on-the-turn produce.

Spain meanwhile haven’t been much better in Blighty. Out at the group stage in 1966, then defeated on penalties in the Euros by England 30 years later, albeit after having two perfectly good goals disallowed for offside. Overall, both teams have lost more in England than they’ve won (8-11 and 5-9 respectively), pointless stats that will nevertheless give Gareth Southgate a little boost ahead of the final, should his team make it through tomorrow night.

This fixture can’t pass by without a mention of Luis Enrique getting his face repurposed in the Cubist style by Mauro Tassotti at the 1994 World Cup ...

... though that wasn’t the first contretemps between the two European giants. The quarter-final of the 1934 World Cup saw Italy’s Mario Pizziolo depart with a broken leg, while Spain keeper Ricardo Zamora had his ribs broken and cap knocked clean off his head, the latter, less serious, offence hopefully soundtracked by slide whistle. The match ended 1-1, with a replay held the very next day; Italy won that thanks partly to a goal from Giuseppe Meazza, partly to the fact that Spain ended the game with four injured players. Of course it goes without saying that we don’t want to see such bellicose nonsense today, won’t somebody think of the kids, etc., but if it happens I’m sure we’ll all live with it.