Brilliant Isco leads Spain’s show of dominance over Italy

Real Madrid attacking midfielder Isco, who was deployed in a “false nine” position as a deep-lying striker, curled a free kick beyond the reach of veteran Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon to put Spain ahead in the 13th minute. Isco then received the ball on the edge of the area and danced past a defender before cracking a low shot into the near bottom corner which again proved too quick for Buffon five minutes before halftime. 

Substitute Morata crafted a superb counter-attack with Sergio Ramos to start and finish the move for the third goal which he slotted past former Juventus team-mate Buffon 13 minutes from time, rounding off Spain’s best performance against Italy since its 4-0 win in the Euro 2012 final. 

“I‘m very satisfied with the players’ response since I’ve been here, their mentality and commitment is excellent. Perfection doesn’t exist, but we played a great game tonight,” Spain coach Julen Lopetegui said. 

“You can always improve but it’s hard to ask how today. We understood the importance of the game, and we have to thank the fans for how they created an atmosphere like the ones we’ve seen in Paris and Wembley. We felt their presence.” 

Spain top Group G on 19 points, three ahead of Italy and seven clear of Albania, who beat basement side Liechtenstein 2-0 on Saturday while Macedonia pulled off a surprise 1-0 victory at Israel. 

The continued absence of top scorer Diego Costa and the explosive form of Marco Asensio compelled Lopetegui to imitate his predecessor Vicente del Bosque and play without a recognised striker, a move which paid off to perfection. Italy lacked the intensity needed to counter Spain’s passing machine.