Italy beat a 10-men French side at a sold out stadium in Zurich to advance to the quarter finals of Euro 2008 thanks to Holland's win over Romania.
The game started at a high level with both teams knowing that only a win would do.
Franck Ribery had to go off early after colliding with Italy's Zambrotta. He was replaced by Nasri.
Luca Toni saw an early chance go begging after Abidal misjudged a long ball and Toni was obviously low on confidence as he fired in the shot first time, even though he had more than enough time to take a few touches and pick his spot.
However, that chance set the tone for the match and it was the same pair that later resulted in the Italy's opening goal. Another long ball was played over the top and Abidal misjudged the flight of the ball again. Toni was onto it in a flash and this time Abidal was made to pay for his mistake. He conceded a penalty and then received his marching orders.
To balance out his defense, Raymond Domenech took off Samir Nasri 16 minutes after replacing Ribery. He was replaced by defender Jean-Alain Boumsoung.
Pirlo calmly slotted home the penalty to put Italy 1-0 up in the 25th minute and France was down to 10 men.
The goal spurred on the Italians and they continuously blew chance after chance. Luca Toni was the main culprit. The commentator on the BBC was saying at one point that Toni could have had TWO hat tricks during the game.
Needless to say, Italy and Toni missed a host of chances towards the end of the first half
France did not give up, but although they showed plenty of character, they failed to find the finishing touch to level the score before half-time.
In the second half, news of Holland taking the lead against Romania filtered through. This, however, failed to spur on the Italians, who seemed content to defend their 1-0 lead.
With France, and in particular Benzema, gaining momentum, Italy got their second goal.
With Pirlo off the pitch, free kick duties were put on the shoulders of De Rossi. His powerful shot bounced off Henry's foot and sent Coupet the wrong way.
Italy was 2-0 up in the luckiest fashion.
This seemingly put the result beyond doubt, but Buffon did have one last contribution to make. He produced a stunning one-handed save to deny Benzema's curled effort which was heading for the far corner.
Italy held on for the victory and, combined with Holland's 2-0 victory over Romania, they were safely through.
They will now face an in-form Spain side with a lot of expectations.
5 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Keith Griffin about 1 year ago
Good read Saloman....
France looked really bad tonight, only Benzema seemed to show flashes of what he could do and also Toulalan in the second half.
I think the commentator had it right when he said that its a tournament too many for some of the french players.
But my god, he's not even on top form, but Pirlo is a pleasure to watch. Should be good to see the Italians vs Spain. Although the loss of Gattuso and Pirlo himself will no doubt put a smile on the faces of the Spanish players.
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Salomon Gonzales about 1 year ago
Thanks Keith..
The French didnt actually look too bad and I thought they played the better football than the Italians. I agree though that this was one tournament too many for some of these French stars...
Pirlo is a super player. However, I started disliking him when he made his name at Inter Milan, then swapped Inter for AC Milan. Complete and Utter disrespectful. There is no denying though, that he is an amazing player..
I hope Spain wipe the floor with the Italians....
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Shyam Parthasarathi about 1 year ago
Horrible horrible performance (or so I've read!) - what's more horrible? Domenech proposing to his girl friend on TV after the match! Well, I suppose he felt that it was just about the last thing he could enjoy before being sacked as manager of France.. bring some one in with some knowledge of football please!
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Salomon Gonzales about 1 year ago
haha didnt know that. Domenech is a horrible manager. Why he decided to take off Nasri again 16 mins after putting him on, when Sidney Govou was having a stinker is beyond me......
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Guillermo 333 about 1 year ago
benzema was the only 1 putting in work for the french, if they had all their original 11 players in which they started, they probaly wud of won the game
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