The first defeat of the Montse Tomé era with the Spanish team came in a match in which Italy was better on the restart
The goals from Athenea and Esther were insufficient but despite the defeat, Spain qualifies for the four-way final thanks to Switzerland’s victory over Sweden
Everything happened in Pontevedra. Spain played wellHE relaxed and he ended up paying dearly for it. Italy was surpassed in the first half hour but the transalpines resisted and They knew how to take advantage of their opportunity. Classification for the final four of the Nations League bittersweet.
DATA SHEET
Nations League (Matchday 5)
SPAIN
ITALY
ALIGNMENTS
Spain
Cata Coll, Ona Batlle, Paredes (Ivana Andrés min.66), Aleixandri, Olga, Tere, Jenni, Aitana (Esther min.46), Athenea (Lucía García min.45), Mariona, Salma
Italy
Giuliani, Di Guglielmo (Salvai min.90), Lenzini, Linari, Boattin, Bergamaschi, Caruso, Giugliana (Galli min.70), Dragoni (Catena min.54), Cambiaghi (Piemonte min.90), Giacinti (Cantore min.54) )
Goals
1-0 Athenea min.11 ; 1-1 Giacinti min.45; 1-2 Cambiaghi min.56 ; 1-3 Linari min.64; 2-3 Esther min.75
Referee
Eleni Antoniu (Greece). Very protested performance with numerous errors. She admonished Ivana Andrés and Lucía
Incidents
Pasarón Stadium (Potevedra) 9,000 spectators
The match started with a predictable script. The Spanish team, encouraged by the Pontevedra fans, came out very motivated and In the first part of the match he dominated at will to Italy. Mariona could have scored the first goal but his goal was disallowed for offside.
hopeful start
The goal had to come. And it arrived. And went somewhat precious. Athenea del Castilloin a personal move, managed to beat the Italian goalkeeper with a spectacular whiplashr. The game looked like it could be a walk in the park but it wasn’t. The Italians resisted but They couldn’t get past the middle of the field.. The pressure of Montse Tomé’s team was very effective.
Half an hour into the game it was known Switzerland’s victory over Sweden that meant Spain’s direct qualification for the final four of the Nations League. The result of Spain-Italy was only ttranscendent for the Italians who needed the victory to continue in the League A of the Nations League.
In the last quarter of an hour of the first half, Spain relaxed and Italy came up. They did not generate any chances, but the image of the visiting team changed radically.
Italian reaction
What happened at the beginning of the second half was hard to understand. Spain played one minute with one less player because, as Montse Tomé explained, AItana had not warned that she was unwell. Esther, his replacement, came in when Italy had already taken advantage Spanish confusion to tie the game. He goal of Giacinti encouraged the Italians who They came back ten minutes later with a Cambiaghi header.
Everything was nerves and haste of the Spanish team that was offering its worst image since the defeat against Japan in the World Cup.
Italy was able to score the third with a goal from Linari after a corner. Spain’s defense was leaking.
Teresa warned with a shot to the crossbar and Esther shortened distances but Italy resisted and was able to defeat the world champion.
Spain will play the Nations League ‘final four’ but you cannot afford to offer the Dantesque image of the second halfd of the match against Italy.