It’s heritage day at Euro-2024 with three monuments of world football in the running on Thursday: resurgent Spain challenges Italy, outgoing champion, and England, eternal candidate for titles, wants to rectify against Denmark a mixed first impression.
As an aperitif at 3 p.m., Serbia snatched the point from a 1-1 draw against Slovenia, equalizing after added time. In the standings of Group C, the Slovenes are provisionally second in the group with 2 points, behind England (3 points) and ahead of Denmark and Serbia, one point each.
But the head of the Serbian Federation threatened on Thursday to withdraw his team from the competition after hearing supporters chanting slogans hostile to his country the day before during the Croatia-Albania match (2-2).
With the Spain-Italy clash this evening, a monument will be in danger! Schalke 04 has long since lost its splendor of the 2000s and is now languishing in the 2nd German division. But its imposing stadium in Gelsenkirchen reconnects for one evening with the thrills of European evenings.
It’s even a classic that the Arena Aufschalke hosts: for the fifth consecutive edition, the roads of Italy and Spain cross during a Euro.
This 41e episode of the Italian-Spanish rivalry is the second big shock of this German tournament after Spain’s demonstration against Croatia (3-0), in this same group B.
After the final of Euro-2012 largely dominated by La Roja (4-0) or the semi-final of the last Euro decided on penalties in favor of Italy, the two teams meet for the unofficial final of the group B: the winner, if there is one, will have his ticket for the eighth and an option for first place.
“World Cup Final”
The Italian and Spanish presses salivated before this summit: “The European classic”, headline A.S. when the Gazzetta dello Sport put on its front page a montage of Luciano Spalletti dressed as a bullfighter waving a blue cape, like the Italian jersey, in front of the Spanish bull.
In Rome, Italy’s equipment manufacturer displayed a gigantic jersey to wish him good luck azzurro on the steps overlooking the famous Spanish Square.
Three years after her unexpected coronation at Wembley, the National does not leave with the favors of the forecasts after having hardly beaten Albania for its first match (2-1).
She at least showed great strength of character, after conceding a goal only twenty-three seconds after kick-off. Character is what Spalletti has made almost a priority.
“We will have to maintain the same level of intensity for 90 minutes, play quickly, if we don’t do that, they will hurt us,” he predicted.
At the end of the fight, there is a qualification for the round of 16 to be achieved even before the third group match. Because Albania and Croatia, unable to decide between themselves on Wednesday (2-2), only collected one point in two matches.
England, European vice-champion, is also on the verge of the next round, thanks to a first controlled victory, if not exciting, against Serbia (1-0).
Deschamps optimistic for Mbappé
“We are happy to have obtained this result but we know that we will have to be better against a formidable Danish team,” admitted coach Gareth Southgate on Thursday.
His “ Three Lions » showed two faces in the first match: diligent and sometimes joyful before half-time, more resilient and less enthusiastic afterward.
However, they know how tough the duels against Denmark can be. At the previous Euro, the English needed extra time in the semi-finals to defeat the Scandinavians (2-1).
The Danes did not start the Euro on the right foot, however. They conceded an unexpected draw against Slovenia of Jan Oblak and Benjamin Sesko (1-1), which complicated their qualification mission.
As for the France team, Didier Deschamps gave news of his captain Kylian Mbappé, victim of a broken nose Monday against Austria (1-0).
“Everything is going in the right direction. After the major shock he had yesterday [mercredi] he was able to go out and do some activities. This will be the case this evening. This is moving in the right direction. We will make sure that he is available,” declared the coach on the eve of a shock against the Netherlands.
The captain of the France team Kylian Mbappé participated in training with a blue-white-red mask on the eve of the Blues’ second match at Euro-2024 against the Netherlands, Thursday in Leipzig.