The five decisive encounters in the European Championship final between England and Italy

Written by Everett Van Zoolen

1. Giorgio Chiellini Teigen, Harry Kane
In the match against Belgium, Chiellini and his partner in crime Leonardo Bonucci showed why they are among the best central defenders in the world. Romelu Lukaku is completely tied up and wins only 36% of his matches that match.

Luis Enrique also sees this as coach of Spain. That is why he decided to create a false striker in the semi-finals with Dani Olmo. Red Bull’s Leipzig continues to immerse himself in the midfield, preventing Chiellini and Bonucci from getting into the duels they love to fight in.

Olmo collapses in the middle of the field. Bonucci doesn’t want to leave a gap in defense, so he can’t move forwardمضي

It will be interesting to see what England face with Kane. Kane is a real striker, which means the Italy center back will likely find it easier to duel with him than against, say, Olmo. However, Kane often falls back into midfield to become playable between the lines. This was especially evident in the match against Denmark. Kane has given at least three passes (a pass that leads to a shot on goal).

Kane makes himself playable against Denmark between the lines

So the big question is: will Chiellini and Bonucci be able to beat Kane, or will the England striker continue to get out between the lines?

2. Giovanni Di Lorenzo vs. Raheem Sterling
The duel between Sterling and Di Lorenzo is an extension of the duel between Kane and Chiellini. Sterling has become England’s most dangerous striker in this tournament. For example, he made no fewer than six shots against Denmark and was involved in almost every risk from the English. So it was pressure from Sterling that ensured Simon Keir shot the ball into his own net.

On the Italian side, Di Lorenzo is a solid force at right-back. Against Spain, he managed to greatly reduce Ferran Torres. Can he do that against sterling now?

3. Lorenzo Insignia vs. Kyle Walker
As long as it’s 0-0, the Italians will basically be on the ball, while the English will be back in their own half. When the Italians are on the ball, they mainly pile up on the left side of the field. Italy has the most skilled footballers out there with Insigne, Marco Verratti and the fallen Leonardo Spinazzola.

Insignia often comes to play indoors as Italy’s back is soaring higher. Thus Italy is trying to create a surplus on the left and combine the lines.

Italy attacks mainly on the left

Insigne in particular stands out well because of this. The Napoli player has already scored two goals in this tournament. Against Spain and Austria, Insignia was the Italian who created the most chances for his team (4 times). While he decided the match against the Belgians with his long shot.

Spinazzola is injured of course, so another issue is how his replacement Emerson fills the left-back position. It went very well against Spain. Emerson managed to break out of the pressure of the Spaniards with two powerful dribbles and won 50% of his duels. So it’s up to Bukayo Saka to stop him.

4. Jorginho v Mason Mount
Italy has a more creative midfield than England with Jorginho, Verratti and Nicolo Barella. With Declan Rice and Calvin Phillips, there are two key players who don’t take much risk in possession. The only midfielder on the English side who can give the Italians options appears to be Mount. The creative Chelsea midfielder regularly strays away to take over from Kane as a striker, or to create a free man on the side of the pitch.

The duels that we will see a lot during the match will be Rice vs Barilla, Phillips vs Verratti and Jorginho vs Mount. The first two are usually settled in favor of the Italians, leaving it up to Mount to stop Jorginho and cause problems when England have possession of the ball.

A mountain is moving to the side of the field. Will he be able to release him on the England Pavilion this way?

5. Frederico Chiesa vs. Luke Shaw
Against Spain, it was often Chiesa who managed to create the danger with his speed and dribbling in the substitution for Italy. On the other hand, Shaw has been playing very well in a few matches and has also managed to win 75% of his defensive duels against Denmark, for example.

But for England, there is a weak spot on the left. There, Shu often had to cover the opponent’s back. However, we often see in those situations that communication in the back of England is not first class. Shaw lags, while Harry Maguire and John Stones don’t catch the attackers very well.

Shaw advances too late on the back of Denmark

This pulls the Maguire and Stones all the way to the side, bringing Mikkel Damsgaard close to 1 to 1 with Jordan Pickford

We also see this in the match against the Czechs: Shaw has covered quite late, which makes Maguire suspect that both the player who enters the ball and the player who goes deep will be released.

So there is a good chance that Italy will respond to this and try to pull Shaw off the center and then try to use the space at the back of the English defenders with players like Chiesa, Ciro Immobile and Parilla.