2) Spain looked fatigued and short of ideas
What was shocking to see was the manner in which Spain approached the game. They were well aware that they would be starved of goal-scoring opportunities through the middle owing to their three in form centre-halves and two a sitting midfielder in Danielle de Rossi. However, they played right into Italy’s 3-5-2 strength, attempting to thread their way through the heart of the defence to no avail.
The fact that the same starting XI was named by Vicente del Bosque for the fourth straight game reflected their astonishing drop in tempo for large periods during the game. The outgoing manager’s reluctance to change his team’s shape after half-time left many nonplussed. To make matters worse, they were repeatedly getting caught on the counter-attack by Emmanuelle Giacccherini and the energetic Eder.
If anyone, it was just Andres Iniesta who looked the most likely to create an opening and force a comeback. His fierce shot in the 76th minute was kept out by Gianluigi Buffon.
Though they rallied to find that equaliser, the Italian defence was up to the task and effectively shut the Spanish attack out. It appeared to be a rather fatigued Spanish outfit and a performance well short of what was expected from defending champions.
