LONDON: Facing a wall of nervous blue-and-white clad Italy fans behind the goal, Jorginho took his trademark hop and skip before calmly stroking in the winning penalty.

So much for the pressure of a shootout in the European Championship semi-finals.

A dash of Italian panache completed a 4-2 penalty-shootout win over Spain following a compelling 1-1 draw after extra time at Wembley on Tuesday, completing a remarkable revival for the Azzurri after failing to qualify for the last World Cup.

Jorginho coolly rolled the decisive kick past Spain keeper Unai Simon after Alvaro Morata had been thwarted by a fine save from Italy’s Gianluigi Donnarumma and Dani Olmo had blasted his effort over the bar as Spain gave up the advantage they had been handed when Manuel Locatelli failed with the first kick in the shoot-out.

Italy’s substitutes and coaching staff poured on to the pitch celebrate in front of their jubilant supporters behind the goal after Jorginho’s kick booked their place in Sunday’s final against either England or Denmark.

Roberto Mancini’s side took the lead on the hour through a sensational curler from Federico Chiesa to complete a sweeping counter-attack which began with keeper Donnarumma catching a Spain cross and rolling the ball out.

Morata, who had been dropped from the starting lineup after beginning all Spain’s previous games, equalised with 10 minutes left, calmly slotting into the bottom corner after bursting forward and exchanging a one-two with Olmo.

The goal was the latest twist in an eventful few weeks for Morata, who has been booed and even faced death threats from Spain supporters after a couple of poor showings, before redeeming himself with a crucial goal in the 5-3 win over Croatia.

But his tournament ended in dismay as his tame spotkick was saved by Donnarumma.

As he walked back to the center circle with his head bowed, Jorginho made the opposite journey and didn’t make the same mistake.

The Chelsea midfielder has his own style when it comes to taking penalties and he didn’t abandon it when it mattered most, sparking a throng of celebrations as Italy’s players sprinted from the halfway line.

Jorginho was mobbed. Italy coach Mancini was hugged by the rest of coaching staff. The players lined up on the edge of the area and ran together, holding hands, toward the fans.

Leonardo Bonucci went further, leaping over the advertising hoardings to get even closer to the crazed supporters whose loud cheering had lifted the team in their most difficult moments.

“We’re delighted we could provide this wonderful entertainment to the Italian people,” Mancini said. “One game to go.”

Riding a national record unbeaten run of 33 games, Italy will play in its fourth European final and look to win the title for a second time, after 1968.

“This group is amazing,” Mancini said. “Everyone wants to win, but this group of players wanted to do something special.”

It is nine years since Spain mauled Italy 4-0 in the Euro 2012 final in Kiev to win a third consecutive major tour­nament, and this was the fourth consecutive Euro in which these powerhouses had met. Spain won the first two of those meetings, but the last two have now gone to Italy.

“It is not a sad night for me by any means,” said Spain coach Luis Enrique. “They only wanted to get to penalties in extra time but we could have played for half an hour more. We can be happy and proud with what we’ve seen. We kept trying to play our way.

“Everyone can feel proud of this team, we have many young players who have done things you couldn’t imagine at their age and we were a team from start to finish. “We can go home knowing we competed and were among the best teams.”

This meeting took place in the chill of a damp July evening in London, but the atmosphere at Wembley was no damp squib.

There were no travelling supporters, given the obligatory quarantine for all visitors to the United Kingdom.

However, the large Spanish and Italian communities already in Britain meant a combined 20,000 fans of the two teams were in the 57,811-crowd allowed inside Wembley.

They added a noise and colour so sadly lacking at major sporting events since the pandemic began, and that provided the perfect stage.

Italy made an intense start but Spain went on to dominate the first half, although Mancini’s side came closest to scoring when Emerson clipped the bar right before halftime.

The second half was even more intense as gaps opened up at either end and Spain captain Sergio Busquets missed a great chance when he sent a shot just over the crossbar.

Chiesa then broke the deadlock by pouncing on a loose ball after a last-ditch tackle by Aymeric Laporte and curling into the net to score his second goal in the tournament after also netting at Wembley against Austria.

Italy could have put the game to bed, but Simon saved twice from Domenico Berardi and Morata made them pay.

Spain looked more likely to find a winner in the remaining minutes and in extra time but could not manage a second shootout victory after prevailing against Switzerland in the quarter-finals.

Once again Morata was a crucial part of the story, but not in the way he would have wanted.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2021