Euro 2020 Semi-finals Italy Vs Spain, Can Ciro Immobile Beat The French Naturalized Defender?

Italian national team striker, Ciro Immobile. (Photo: Instagram @azzurri)

JAKARTA - The Euro 2020 semifinal match between Italy and Spain will take place at Wembley, London, Wednesday, July 7 in the morning. The two giants of European football are certain to be desperately trying to get a ticket to the Euro 2020 final.

Italy is one of the most superior teams in this quadrennial tournament. All matches before the semi-finals were swept away by Roberto Mancini's men with victory.

However, the Italian squad is not without problems. They do not have a deadly striker that should be carried by Ciro Immobile as the main Azzurri striker.

Sharp with Lazio throughout the 2020/21 season, but the 31-year-old striker failed to show his best performance for the Italian national team at Euro 2020. He has only scored two goals, the same as the scores of Azzurri midfielders such as Manuel Locatelli, Lorenzo Insigne, and Matteo Pessina.

During the Euro 2020 event, it was like Immobile had difficulty breaking into the opponent's goal. He created many chances, but he only scored two seeds.

Against Austria in the round of 16, Immobile looked like a confused person. Finally, he was replaced by Torino striker Andrea Belotti in the middle of the second half.

Most recently, against Belgium in the quarter-final match, Immobile received scathing criticism from the legendary England striker, Alan Shearer. In that game, he failed to score, and dived into the penalty box, feigned injury but then got up again to celebrate Nicolo Barella's goal.

"It's a shame. You could see that he glanced at the referee before he fell. It's a really embarrassing thing", said Shearer, quoted by the BBC.

Concerns about Immobile's sharpness seem to have to continue in the semi-final match against Spain. The reason is, La Furia Roja now has a tough defender, Aymeric Laporte.

The naturalized defender from France is the mainstay of coach Luis Enrique at the heart of the Spanish national team defense. Enrique also did not hesitate to praise the impact of Laporte after the controversial move of his nationality ahead of Euro 2020.

The Manchester City defender is the only Spanish defender to play in every match at Euro 2020. He seems to want to prove that France was wrong to 'leave' him.

Laporte, who has always played for the French national team age group, was called up twice for the senior team in 2019. However, he has not tasted any playing time for the Rooster Team.

Luis Enrique and the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) have been monitoring Laporte for the past three years. And finally, Spain won Laporte ahead of Euro 2020.

"Once he was able to play with us, he started to do a lot for us. He's a top defender, both in the attacking and defensive phases," said Enrique.

"We obviously need a defender like him who is strong in the air, he can play with both feet, he is physically strong, he is fast, he is strong."

Many also thought that Laporte's summons to the Spain squad at Euro 2020 was a 'medicine' after Enrique removed captain Sergio Ramos from the La Furia Roja squad.