Sergio Busquets has insisted Spain were ‘superior’ to Italy after being knocked out of Euro 2020.
After the first two penalties were scuffed, Alvaro Morata’s miss handed Jorginho the chance to win it for Italy.
Busquets, who took over the captain’s armband at Euro 2020, believes his side dominated Italy for much of the game.
“Everyone made Italy big favourites here, but we demonstrated that we were superior to them,” he said.
We imposed the things we wanted to here: owning the ball, winning it back as quickly as possible when we lost it.
“In general across this match, I think we were the dominant side. But football’s like this, and all we can do is congratulate Italy.
“There’s a year-and-a-half until the next World Cup but we are on the right road, for sure.
“This is a great national team and the only thing missing was getting to the final, as we were determined to.”
While there was heartbreak for Spain, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Jorginho were the heroes for Italy.
Donnarumma produced the goods in the shoot-out while Jorginho finished coolly to send Italy to the final at Wembley.
TOPSHOT – Italy’s midfielder Jorginho (C) celebrates with teammates after scoring in a penalty shootout and winning the UEFA EURO 2020 semi-final football match between Italy and Spain at Wembley Stadium in London on July 6, 2021. (
Image credit: Getty Images
England or Denmark will take on Italy for the trophy but Donnarumma insisted it wasn’t time to start making predictions about the final.
“I was calm before penalties because I knew I could help the team,” he said.
“I’d like to thank everyone, as now we are only one step away from realising our dream. Spain are very strong, but this Italy side has a lot of courage, we never give up.
Spain caused us a lot of trouble today with their possession, but I think we deserve to play in the final.
“I don’t want to talk about the final now, I want to enjoy the moment. We’ll think about it when we have to.”
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