The UEFA Nations League 2020/2021 Discussion Thread

[Slow death]

I stayed all afternoon doing analysis of this game and honestly it seems to me that it will end in a draw or it will be 1 - 1 or 0 - 0. So I'm choosing not to bet on this game, I made a bet BTTS and then I canceled after seeing the list of players. I'm just going to watch the game for 15 minutes to see what the pace of the game will be and if I can make a bet. Spain has a way of playing that irritates them, they keep the ball a lot and cause little danger, while Italy has been very efficient in attack

[3meek]

I hope that Italy win this match! The Spanish have certainly always played good football, but I think Italy look much stronger! Most likely both teams can score, but Italy will probably win today! The odds on Italy winning are still very high! The European champions have to show they are the best!

[coinlocket$]

Almost the full squad for this game.
I hope no one will be injured for this useless cup.

source: https://twitter.com/Azzurri/status/1445805933993631744/photo/1

[jakdanyel]

The Italy - Spain match has already started. I checked the lineups and surprised to see that Italy manager Mancini preferred Bernardeschi on the front. He has good options in the subs like Berardi and Kean. Maybe he wants to rest them for the World Cup qualification matches ahead after this one. But if they really need a good forward in this match, I have no doubt that one of those players will enter the match.

[coinlocket$]

Chiesa is a god.

I hope nobody comes with 150m € it will be hard to say no for Juventus.

[Harkorede]

I hope that Italy win this match! The Spanish have certainly always played good football, but I think Italy look much stronger! Most likely both teams can score, but Italy will probably win today! The odds on Italy winning are still very high! The European champions have to show they are the best!

It halftime already and the match is Spain's to lose right now, They are up to by 2 goals already, both goals came from Ferran Torres and to make matters worse Italy are down to 10 men when Bonucci got sent off just before the 2nd goal.

I don't think Italy can get back into this game by any means.

[casperBGD]

it was a pure luck that I had played with ZIL staking and forgot that Italy already started, since Torres scored on the beginning, and while waiting to put something on half-time, he scored another one, so 0:2 on the half-time

maybe Italy has some chances to get back, but at the moment, it is pretty far from getting a win
and moreover, Spain is obviously better tonight, and Bonucci is out

[GbitG]

The Italy - Spain match has already started. I checked the lineups and surprised to see that Italy manager Mancini preferred Bernardeschi on the front. He has good options in the subs like Berardi and Kean. Maybe he wants to rest them for the World Cup qualification matches ahead after this one. But if they really need a good forward in this match, I have no doubt that one of those players will enter the match.

We are going for end of first half and home team is in deep trouble after conceding goal in very early minutes of game now they have red card Bonucci almost end of chances for them against very spirited Spain who is in control and now are heading for Final against other semi finalist from Belgium vs France.

Torres done a second goal in injury time.

Second semi-final is going to play tomorrow at Turin and final is on Sunday at Milan with third spot match will be held at Turin.

[coinlocket$]

It halftime already and the match is Spain's to lose right now, They are up to by 2 goals already, both goals came from Ferran Torres and to make matters worse Italy are down to 10 men when Bonucci got sent off just before the 2nd goal.

I don't think Italy can get back into this game by any means.

yup the game is basically over, and maybe is not so bad.
Bonucci can rest for the Serie A-game.

If Insigne scored the 1-1 when he was alone in front of the Spain goalkeeper probably now we were talking about something else but who cares this cup is a little more than a friendly game.

[Joca97]

It halftime already and the match is Spain's to lose right now, They are up to by 2 goals already, both goals came from Ferran Torres and to make matters worse Italy are down to 10 men when Bonucci got sent off just before the 2nd goal.

I don't think Italy can get back into this game by any means.

yup the game is basically over, and maybe is not so bad.
Bonucci can rest for the Serie A-game.

If Insigne scored the 1-1 when he was alone in front of the Spain goalkeeper probably now we were talking about something else but who cares this cup is a little more than a friendly game.

Bonucci really got some stupid yellow cards in this match. First yellow card for talking to thr ref for no reason and someone had to receive the card their amd later hitting Busqets with his elbow,his in experienced player this stuff shouldnt happen to him. Spain is 98% already qualified for the final

[alpamar99]

There is only an hour left for the Italy - Spain semi-final game. I see Italy as the closer side to win here as I really like their game compared to Spain. Italy were playing the same exact boring game as Spain long time ago but they have completely changed their playing style now. We see that there are an Italy that are more eager to attack rather than defending and I really like this one. I don't want to see big teams playing a boring game but Spain are still insisting on the same game plan for a long time. Because of this, I think that Spain will lose this and this will be the end of the road for them.

Italy looks really good from the line ups that are just posted. The only problem for Italy that they will miss Immobile in the attack. It will be a really intresting match between these two teams. But as you said Italy is the closer side to winning this match today,but only on paper.

unfavorable position for italy at this time. with a score of 0-2 and a red card bonuci I think it will be difficult for Italy to be able to win this match, even to equalize will be very difficult.
51 minutes running even spain seemed to lock up the italian players and didn't allow the italian players to develop their game.
Spain has excelled in all forms, both in possession, number of players and scores.

[KTChampions]

Yes, the validity of this cup is highly questionable (especially given the fact that talk about an overstressed calendar for players has been going on for a long time). I don't even know if today's matches are suitable for betting - I am not sure that the teams take this tournament seriously, so something like a friendly game and a random result may turn out.

maybe on earlier stages top teams like Italy or Spain didn't take this tournament seriously but now it's semifinal stage and teams are two steps away from winning the trophy.

So what? This cup currently does not have any historical value and may be canceled after a couple of draws. In addition, it is the beginning of the season now and I doubt that the players will go to the end like in the World or European Championships (for example, in hard joints) at the risk of injury and miss the season.

[izsara]

It halftime already and the match is Spain's to lose right now, They are up to by 2 goals already, both goals came from Ferran Torres and to make matters worse Italy are down to 10 men when Bonucci got sent off just before the 2nd goal.

I don't think Italy can get back into this game by any means.

yup the game is basically over, and maybe is not so bad.
Bonucci can rest for the Serie A-game.

If Insigne scored the 1-1 when he was alone in front of the Spain goalkeeper probably now we were talking about something else but who cares this cup is a little more than a friendly game.

Bonucci really got some stupid yellow cards in this match. First yellow card for talking to thr ref for no reason and someone had to receive the card their amd later hitting Busqets with his elbow,his in experienced player this stuff shouldnt happen to him. Spain is 98% already qualified for the final

It was a fatal mistake and I think it was a bad bonucci game in Italy.
It's very difficult for Italy to come back with 2 goals down and with 10 player.
now they can only survive so as not to concede more goals.
The second round is now completely owned by Spain and when you look at the current situation on the field, I think Spain can make sure they qualify for the final round.

[Spack17]

Italy have been experiencing a terrible night so far against Spain. I watched the first half as much as possible and I can say that Spain played really nicely. I couldn't see the performance that I wanted from Italy. Actually they had some critical goal chances but couldn't benefit from them. And the red card that Bonucci got ended everything for Spain. In the last minute of the first half, Spain increased the goal difference to two and finished the job already.

[Woodie]

Well well well looks like Italy is not invisible anymore as they were a few weeks/months ago...currently they are getting beaten by Spain who are playing as the visiting team and as scores stand it's 2-0 against Italy. Honestly this is a disappointing result for me because I was anticipating both teams to score and the unfortunate part is the Italians failed to put the ball behind the net when they were awarded a penalty and with less than 20 minutes to go and a man down the odds are against Italy of getting a goal tonight.

[Trofo]

It halftime already and the match is Spain's to lose right now, They are up to by 2 goals already, both goals came from Ferran Torres and to make matters worse Italy are down to 10 men when Bonucci got sent off just before the 2nd goal.

I don't think Italy can get back into this game by any means.

yup the game is basically over, and maybe is not so bad.
Bonucci can rest for the Serie A-game.

If Insigne scored the 1-1 when he was alone in front of the Spain goalkeeper probably now we were talking about something else but who cares this cup is a little more than a friendly game.

Bonucci really got some stupid yellow cards in this match. First yellow card for talking to thr ref for no reason and someone had to receive the card their amd later hitting Busqets with his elbow,his in experienced player this stuff shouldnt happen to him. Spain is 98% already qualified for the final

First yellow was really stupid, not so sure he could have avoided second one. He was just using elbows to jump but hit Spanish player really on the chin, stuff like that happens that is why he should not have gotten that first yellow for complaining.

Italy was dangerous and had their chances, best one being that Insigne chance mentioned before, don't know how he managed to miss that one. Now it is too late, this went much easier for Spain than I expected.

[ILuckyGuyI]

What a disappointing day for Italy! The game hasn't still ended though. But it is clearly seen that it will be really hard for them to make a comeback. Spain were leading by 2-0 until Italy just scored a goal and decreased the gap by one. But Italy are playing with ten players which makes things even harder for them. Now, Italy see a hope about equalizing the score. They have nothing to lose and I'm sure that they will attack fully. But at the end, Spain should be able to advance to the final.

[LTU_btc]

37 games in a row unbeaten streak is over. Well, it had to end sooner or later.
It was really good game to watch and Spain achieved deserved win. Though, offcourse that Bonucci red card was big factor. But even without one man Italy played quite solid in second half and were not so far from making comeback.

[Kusman]

I really like Italy's game plan rather than Spain's. Because they don't play very boring like just passing the ball among them all the time and end the match like that. Spain are just the example that I have given. They have talented players but the game plan is just very boring you know. Italy can defeat them and advance to the final.

Imagine even 5 years ago saying this about Italy, right guys? That the team does not play boring football and tries to attack more instead of doing longball and hope for the best?

But we must credit fully the teams of Serie A who are behind this change of pace for national football.

If Juventus won every time and never needed to worry about Napoli or AC Milan or Atalanta,,, we would still be seeing boring old Italy.

The Serie A was one of the most boring leagues in the past. I agree with you on it. And Italy's system was also the same with them as a result. Because especially Italian managers were loving to use the same system they had for the Serie A clubs. But a change was the thing that was needed the most. Because they couldn't have continued like this forever. And making big changes helped the national team reach better levels also.

They still were beaten by Spain especially due to the red card. But it is not a big deal for me as I really like to watch them playing an attacking football whatever the opponent is.

[logfiles]

Italy was dangerous and had their chances, best one being that Insigne chance mentioned before, don't know how he managed to miss that one. Now it is too late, this went much easier for Spain than I expected.

That missed chance. I, too, don't know how it did not get in  . The moment could have changed the game.

Imagine even 5 years ago saying this about Italy, right guys? That the team does not play boring football and tries to attack more instead of doing longball and hope for the best?

I liked how the played in the Euros too. In fact I backed them at one point. Something which I never do for Italy.