Cesc Fabregas saved reigning European Champions Spain from defeat after he equalised to deny Italy a shock win in Gdansk. After an intriguing first half, substitute Antonio Di Natale gave the Azzurri a well-deserved lead after the hour mark from Andrea Pirlo's exquisite pass. Fabregas levelled for La Roja almost immediately after he was played in from David Silva's disguised ball. Fernando Torres came on in the closing stages and created a few opportunities to win the game however a draw was a fair result.
Before the match commenced, there was a shock announcement that Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque had declined the option to field an outright striker who instead chose Fabregas to play the role. A well-contested match began with the Spanish dominating the early stages who also had the first chance of the match when David Silva blazed his 20 yard effort over the crossbar after nine minutes. The Manchester City playmaker was in the midst of the action moments later when his Eastlands team-mate Mario Balotelli needlessly gave away possession to Silva whose tame attempt caused no problems for Gianluigi Buffon in the Italy goal. Sergio Ramos conceded a free-kick to the Italians to the right of the D. Pirlo took the set piece which forced a good save out of Iker Casillas diving low to his right. Veteran Antonio Cassano was involved in the couple of chances for Italy in the space of minutes where he firstly dragged his effort wide after taking on Gerard Piqué and he crossed in from the left to find Claudio Marchisio whose first time left-footed volley went straight at Casillas.
Two-time European winners Spain weren't going to lose patience in their passing game however they did have a couple of opportunities a few minutes before half-time where Buffon tipped Fabregas' shot wide of the post and Xavi feeded the pass for his Barcelona team-mate Andrés Iniesta whose attempted lob went just over the crossbar. It was the men in blue who almost took the lead into the half-time interval where Cassano's cross from the right was met by an unmarked Thiago Motta whose thumping header from close range forced Casillas into making a terrific right-handed save.
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Thiago Motta's header forcing Iker Casillas
into action |
After the interval, the opportunities continued where Fabregas set Iniesta free down the left where his acute-angled effort was tipped away by Buffon. Minutes later, Sergio Ramos was saved from his blushes as he mistakenly gave the ball to Balotelli on the right which set the former Inter man with a one-on-one with Casillas however he was too hesitant to test the Real Madrid goalkeeper as Ramos made up for his error by intercepting the ball. It wasn't long until Balotelli had to make way as Antonio Di Natale replaced the 21-year-old and the Udinese striker would make an instant impact on the match. On the hour mark, Pirlo picked the ball up in the middle, running past Xavi and played a delightful through pass, in between two defenders, for Di Natale who had time to position himself to curl the ball past Casillas to put the Italians ahead.
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Antonio Di Natale guides his effort
past Casillas to put Italy ahead |
Spain seeked for an immediate response which they would get as three minutes later, Iniesta found Silva who disguised his pass for the on-running Fabregas to slide the ball home underneath Buffon. Both teams created chances to try and get the winner starting with substitute Fernando Torres who beat the Italian offside trap and tried to round Buffon however the Juventus 'keeper intercepted the ball at the vital moment. Italy had a glorious chance to win the match as substitute Giovinco crossed from the left to find unmarked Di Natale however he could only steer his effort wide of the left post. Then it was Torres again who had a wonderful chance of getting a late goal when Xavi played him in, Buffon came out of his goal, the Chelsea striker tried to lob the veteran 'keeper however it had too much pace and lift to find the net.
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| Cesc Fábregas equalises for Spain |
Overall, a draw was a fair result in Gdansk even though both teams had some decent chances when they came about. It wasn't pretty to watch at times however Italy will be the more happier with the point. The next question for Spain is whether Del Bosque will decide to play a striker for their next match against the Republic of Ireland on Thursday which I think is essential if they want to score more goals. Italy will be very pleased with their performance who play group leaders Croatia in Poznan which looks to be a very interesting match after their 3-1 success over the Irish on Sunday evening.
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