Nations League, Italy shines in Brussels: Belgium defeated and quarters reached

Nations League: Belgium-Italy 0-1

A brilliant Italy overcame Belgium with a score of 1-0 on the fifth day of League A-Group 2 of the Nations League. A score even too liar given the excellent performance of the men coached by Luciano Spalletti, who è lacked only a little concreteness forward to find at least the doubling goal and avoid, in the last minutes, the assault of the Red Devils.

That it is a positive evening for the Azzurri i understands already at 11'11': an impressive choral action allows Sandro Tonali to arrive in the penalty area and deposit, once received the last pass from Di Lorenzo, the ball in the net. Italy is not satisfied and crushes the opponents in their own half and before the end of the first half, at 44', comes another important chance, again with final recipient Tonali, this time providentially anticipated by Debast.

In the resumption, the script of the match does not change: Retegui at 54' goes for a sure shot but finds Casteels’ deflection in the corner, again the Atalanta striker from a good position wastes at 63', with a deflection of the Belgian goalkeeper that, however, is not detected by the refereeing staff. The pace drops in the last phase, Spalletti gives space, between 68'and 82', to Kean, Udogie, Locatelli, Raspadori and Gatti in place of Retegui, Dimarco, Rovella, Barella and Cambiaso.

Belgium tried with the force of desperation to avoid the knockout and came very close to it at 84'84' when Faes, on the development of a stationary ball action, hit well with his header and passed Donnarumma, finding the post forò the post. There are three minutes of added time and the suffering becomes too much compared to the amount of play produced in the first 80'of the match: the score forò does not change anymore, Italy wins and qualifies for the quarterfinals of the Nations League. And also the first place, on the eve of Italy-France scheduled for Sunday, è a step away.