From San Siro to Enschede with the same result almost two years on: a 2-1 defeat to Spain in the Nations League semi-finals. The Azzurri fell just short once again in reaching the Nations League final due to Joselu's winner two minutes from the end of normal time, after Ciro Immobile's first-half penalty had earlier cancelled out Yeremi Pino's opener for the Spaniards. It's a second consecutive Nations League semi-final defeat for Roberto Mancini's side, and who now must play in the 3rd place play-off match, again in Enschede, against tournament hosts the Netherlands on Sunday at 15:00 CEST. Fighting it out to become the competition's third winners on Sunday evening will be Croatia and Spain.

THE MATCH. Mancini chose to line up with a back three (Toloi, Bonucci and Acerbi), with Di Lorenzo and Spinazzola out wide on the flanks, Frattesi and Barella inside and Jorginho as the central playmaker. Ahead of them was Immobile and Zaniolo. But inside three minutes, Italy got off to the worst possible start: Bonucci was robbed of possession near his own box and Yeremy Pino coolly slotted home past Donnarumma. The Azzurri's response was immediate: Jorginho slipped a lovely ball through for Zaniolo, who smashed a left-foot shot towards goal that hit the right arm of Le Normand. From the spot, Lazio forward Ciro Immobile smashed home sending Unai Simon the wrong way to get his 15th goal in an Azzurri shirt, and his first for two years (Italy vs. Switzerland on 16 June 2021 in a Euro 2020 group stage game). Donnarumma stood up to Rodrigo's left-foot effort on 19 minutes, before Italy thought they had taken the lead through Frattesi, from another fine pass from Jorginho, but it was ruled out for offside following a VAR review. The game was a lively contest with chances for both sides: Morata found Donnarumma in fine form, who blocked out his right-foot shot from the edge of the box and repeated the feat two minutes before half-time; Toloi then sent an effort just over the bar from distance to close out the half.

At half-time, Mancini brought on Darmian and Dimarco for Bonucci and Spinazzola, respectively. There was also a change for the De La Fuente with Asensio replacing Rodrigo. Within three minutes of the restart, the Spaniards had a great chance to take the lead but Donnarumma was there once again making an outstanding reflex save to fingertip onto the bar from Merino at close range, before Morata was then unable to tap home the rebound. Instead, the PSG keeper was not perfect in coming for a cross that gave Rodri the chance for some acrobatics, but his effort went just over. A quarter of an hour in after the break, the Azzurri made another two changes with Jorginho and Immobile coming off for Cristante and Chiesa. And it was the Juventus player on the left who crossed for an onrushing Frattesi, but the Sassuolo midfielder's left-footed hit on the volley was brilliantly pushed away by Unai Simon to keep out the Azzurri's biggest chance of the half. For the final 15 minutes, Frattesi gave way to Verratti, but it was Spain who pushed forward and found the winning goal in the 88th minute through Joselu, a recent sub. The Espanyol striker made the most of two fortunate deflections off Cristante and Toloi, from Rodri's right-foot strike from the edge of the box, to beat Donnarumma. For Italy, they must now be content with a third place play-off game, just like two years ago.