The Italian national team reached the semi-finals of the European Football Championship, after its victory over Hungary 2-0 in the capital Budapest, while Germany and England ended their campaign with an exciting 3-3 draw in the sixth and final round of matches.
The two goals of the European Cup 2020 champion, who will miss the 2022 World Cup in Qatar for the second time in a row, were scored by Napoli striker Giacomo Rasbadori (27) and Inter player Federico Demarco (52).
Thus, Italy topped Group C with 11 points, one point behind Hungary, to join the Netherlands and Croatia, waiting to complete the box on Tuesday after facing Spain and Portugal.
After great pressure from the Italian team in the first half, the Hungarian team seemed tense and repeated the error of passing by the defenders, and from one of them, when Adam Nagy was returning the ball to his goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi, the goalkeeper made a mistake in the pass and the ball reached Rasbadori, who became in front of an almost empty goal The ball hit the net in the 27th minute.
Giovanni Di Lorenzo almost doubled the score after four minutes with a beautiful shot from inside the penalty area, but it passed next to the post.
With the start of the second half, the team had the opportunity to achieve a goal after a shot from inside the area from Dominic Shubulai, which was blocked by goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, followed by Loic Nego with another shot that the defense kept outside the area.
“We needed these matches to restore the enthusiasm, even if the World Cup remains an open wound and we cannot go back,” said the Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper after the victory.
“We have to start over, we have to do it for the whole of Italy,” he added.
And amid the Hungarians’ attempts to come back, Demarco came in the 52nd minute and doubled the score for the Azzurri after a superb pass from Nicolo Barilla to Brian Cristante, who in turn passed it to Demarco, who scored the net.
Germany and England bid farewell to a draw
In another match, England and Germany exited the tournament with a 3-3 draw at Wembley Stadium.
England’s goals were scored by Luke Shaw (71), Mason Mount (75) and Harry Kane (83 from a penalty kick), while Germany’s Kai Haverts (67 and 87) and Ilkay Gundogan (52) scored.
Thus, the German national team finished its campaign in third place in Group C with 6 points, while England were at the bottom of the standings with three points.
With the end of the first half in a goalless draw, coach Hansi Flick pushed Timo Werner in the second half, and the latter missed a goal after receiving a pass from Yozoa Kimmich and striking it strangely outside the field.
However, defender Harry Maguire gave the Germans an easy goal when he passed the ball by mistake to Jamal Musiala, who tried to cross the Manchester United defender, and he tangled with him and dropped him to the ground.
The German national team players demanded a penalty kick, but the referee ordered to complete the game, before resorting to video technology and reversing his decision, so he awarded a penalty kick that Gundogan translated as a goal (52).
Maguire returned again to advance towards the German penalty area, providing offensive support, but the visitors’ defense succeeded in extracting the ball from it and built a counterattack that ended with a goal with a wonderful shot by Haverts (67).
The England team reduced the score with a powerful shot from Shaw that settled in the net (71) and increased the resolve of the “Three Lions”, so Mount succeeded three minutes after equalizing with a powerful shot from outside the penalty area.
The match referee awarded a penalty kick for England this time in favor of Judd Bellingham after returning to (VAR), so that Kane succeeded in implementing it successfully and the hosts led with the result (83).
However, the guests’ response was not late, and Serge Gnabry fired a long shot that had Nick Bob on the lookout, but it bounced from him in front of Haverts, who easily netted it (87).
The English tried to snatch the victory that loomed in the last minutes, but goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen prevented that.