Italy’s latest hero Lorenzo Insigne is a happy man right now following his excellent man of the match performance against Belgium in their Euro2020 quarter final clash on Friday evening.
Insigne’s stunning first half curler proved to be the decisive difference as the Azurri set up another exhilarating clash in the semifinal with Spain thanks to a 2-1 win over the Belgians.
Speaking after the game, the SSC Napoli star had this to say about his performance and Italy’s;
“I think every single player in the team played an incredible game tonight,” he told uefa.com. “I always try that shot, in games and in training. I’m happy it went in. It was a great goal but I repeat, we won all together tonight.”
In his reaction, Insigne’s boss, Roberto Mancini expected his side to score more goals but is not looking far beyond their victory against Belgium for now.
“We scored two and we could have scored more. I think the victory is fully deserved. Spain are next but the more you go forward the more difficult it becomes. Tonight, however, we just want to think about our performance and our victory.”
The former world champions, Italy on Friday stretched their unbeaten run to 32 matches as they joined Spain to book their spot in the Euro2020 semifinals after two pulsating matches against Belgium and Switzerland respectively.
While Italy saw off the Belgians 2-1 in normal time thanks to beautifully taken goals from Nicolo Barella and Insigne, with Romelu Lukaku getting the consolation for the Red Devils via the spot, Spain needed a penalty shootout to see off a valiant Swiss team that missed their talismanic midfielder Granit Xhaka.
La Roja were held to a 1-1 draw after extra time before going on to beat Switzerland on 3-1 on penalties after the Swiss missed two spot kicks.
Both Italy and Spain will meet in the semifinal on Tuesday for a place in the final.