Spain's Glorious Dynasty Toppled by the Very Team It All Started With: Italy
It ended the way all dynasties do: messy.
The clock had just ticked into added time when Emanuele Giaccherini broke with the ball directly from a Spain corner. Joined by Lorenzo Insigne, the Italy midfielder surged beyond halfway, seemingly headed for the corner flag, where dreams of late comebacks so often die. But suddenly, he had team-mates flying forward across the pitch, and the Spain defence wasn't really a defence at all: Juanfran, Pedro, Jordi Alba and Andres Iniesta.
So instead of heading for the corner, Insigne flashed the ball across the field to Matteo Darmian, who fed Graziano Pelle. From close range, he smashed it home. Together, they'd smashed through the defending champions with a wrecking ball, Spain's defence left in as many pieces as their dynasty—all because of Italy.
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It had to be Italy.
Eight long years ago, this great Spanish era started with the Italians, and now it has ended with them, too. Spain had loathed the Azzurri for years, but more than anything, they'd feared them; feared them for their strength in identity, for their savvy, for their cunning and for their tournament know-how.
To scale the dizzying heights of their historic dynasty, Spain for a time conquered those fears, but here at the Stade de France, they all came rushing back, with La Roja savagely reminded what those fears look like, eight years on.
From Italy, this was vintage. Right from the opening whistle, their dominance over Vicente del Bosque's men was extreme. A tactical advantage was evident all over the pitch, but it was as if they owned a psychological one, too: They were stronger, faster and more intense; full of clarity and purpose, they left Spain looking lost, tired and broken.
At the back, Antonio Conte's three central defenders confounded the Spanish as many quietly suspected they might. The wing-backs created overloads everywhere. Their pressing was immaculate. They forced David De Gea into stunning saves and long punts. Pelle was immense up front.
Amid the onslaught, Spain and Del Bosque didn't have a single answer. When that happens, it's confirmation of the end.
During the build-up to this round-of-16 clash at Euro 2016, the intensity of this rivalry had been mused over relentlessly, but throughout, a central perception remained: Italy aren't the same. Theirs was a squad viewed as limited and vastly inferior, and yet because of that, there was a sense of something brewing.
"I don't want to go home, the lads don't want to go home," Conte said at the pre-match press conference. "We're not going to be sacrificial lambs—it is up to Spain to prove they are better than us."
From Conte and Italy, there was a feeling of steely defiance. Concurrently, Del Bosque spoke of his Spain sticking to what they knew and focussing on themselves.
In hindsight, it said it all: Spain weren't ready for Italy, not like this. Mundo Deportivo had dubbed this clash as "talent vs. catenaccio," but Spain didn't get a cynical, defensive Italy. They got a brilliant one. A clever one. A ruthless, ready-to-erupt, dynasty-shattering one.
It turns out Gerard Pique had it right last week when he said: "Italy are always Italy, and that worries me." Not only him, though: Italy now worry a whole nation once more—a nation that has reached the end. For now.
As Spain pack up and prepare to depart France, they do so having been stripped of the second of two crowns they had so famously held at once. Two years ago in Brazil, some saw their implosion at the FIFA World Cup as La Roja reaching the end, but it wasn't quite. The Spanish still had an astonishing depth of talent and key faces; more crucially, they still had their European title.
Now, they don't.
And it had to be Italy.
It was Spain's penalty-shootout win over Italy in Vienna in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 where all this began. That night, on June 22, La Roja faced the Azzurri 88 years after their last competitive victory over them, and while there had been a sense of something building, Spain needed to bust through a major barrier first.
Until then, Italy had consumed Spain. The Spanish loathed their tactics and hated their dark arts. They resented them for their success and their hold over them. The wounds were deep and the memories painfully vivid, the image of Luis Enrique's blood-soaked shirt at the 1994 World Cup always right there.
For Spain, Italy represented a curse, a hex, a ghost or a demon that needed to be exorcised. And then, suddenly, it was.
"The moment was penalties against Italy," Iker Casillas later recalled, per AS (h/t Football Espana). "Many of us are convinced that day changed everything. ... We knew we were going to win the Euros."
They did win the Euros, of course. And then they won a World Cup and another Euros, too. Beating Italy, finally, was the release, and what followed was historic, the manner of it graceful and uplifting. But Spain have now come full circle: Thanks to Italy, it's over.
On Monday at the Stade de France, Del Bosque's men showed that the magic has gone and they're just another team now. The system they've sparkled with for so long ground to a halt and faltered. Italy swamped them, battered them and almost humiliated them if not for De Gea.
Spain were slow and directionless, out-coached and outthought. At the back, they were rocking from the opening whistle; in midfield, Sergio Busquets was cut out of the game and Iniesta was left alone; up front, there was no visible plan for dealing with Italy and their plan.
For now, Spain are done.
But they will come again.
Though it will be difficult for the Spanish to see immediately amid the despair, theirs is a foundation set up for a quick recovery. The domestic league, La Liga, is the world's strongest by a distance. Their coaching pathway is a cut above. Their production line of talent remains colossal.
Just consider the names who have barely been able to get into this team: Thiago Alcantara, Koke, Hector Bellerin, Cesar Azpilicueta, Lucas Vazquez and Bruno Soriano have sat on the fringes at this tournament; Diego Costa, Fernando Torres, Santi Cazorla, Isco, Saul Niguez, Gabi, Juan Mata and Paco Alcacer couldn't even make the squad.
There are others, too—fresh faces like Sergi Roberto and Marco Asensio, who'll come through like so many others from the country's dominant youth setup.
Spain will be fine, but the national team needs reinvigorating.
In charge, Del Bosque has reached the end much like this dynasty, and he must step aside for a coach with more dynamism and more intensity, a coach who'll infuse La Roja with an energy and a renewed tactical focus to accompany their technical brilliance. Under Del Bosque, Spain have grown predictable and somewhat stale, because evolution was never stressed and old comforts continued to be relied upon.
It all just feels tired and worn out. To say tiki-taka or possession football is dead is overly simplistic, but Spain's method does require tinkering to make them more explosive, more lethal and more fearsome. Because for now, they've been found out, definitively.
"We are no longer the best," read the cover of Marca on Tuesday morning. It's right; they're not.
Spain's dynasty is over.
And it had to be Italy.
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