Saliba heading out on loan again + Euro 2020 round-up

Morning, a quick Saturday round-up for you.

It’s going to be Spain v Italy in a pretty tasty semi-final after they both went through their quarter-finals. The Spanish needed penalties, and what I thought was a pretty generous decision to reduce Switzerland to ten men, in their game.

The Swiss were superb in the shoot-out against France on Monday, but almost the exact opposite last night. Goalkeeper Yann Sommer, who had been superb throughout the 120 minutes, couldn’t do enough to offset the rubbish spot-kicks the outfield players took, and even though Spain missed a couple themselves, they stuck enough away to go through.

I don’t know exactly what it is about Luis Enrique’s team though. There’s just something missing. Maybe it’s a top striker, but I think it’s more than that. I don’t want to delve into intangibles, but maybe there’s something lacking there too. They do have Pedri though, who is so good to watch, and I can’t believe he’s going to go and play the Olympics, that seems a ludicrous schedule for player of his age.

Granit Xhaka didn’t play last night, and I think there’s a need to reassess the idea that two yellow cards in an 8 game tournament is sufficient for a ban. That’s such a low threshold and such a harsh punishment for what might be two relatively trivial offences in hours of playing time. Anyway, his Euros is over and I imagine that whatever is going to happen with him will happen pretty soon.

In the other game, Italy scored good goals but I think it’s also fair to talk about how badly Belgium defended for them. Insigne’s strike was gorgeous, but made possible by Alderweireld laying out the red carpet for him take the shot in the first place. As for Thomas from Ireland spending more time worrying about a dive than stopping the actual ball, he’s still got it (it being the way he defended at Arsenal!).

It was a shame to see Leonardo Spinazzola pick up what looked like a serious injury towards the end, he’s been an exciting player in this tournament, and there was good old fashioned time-wasting/shit-housing towards the end. Some people hate that stuff, but if you’re in the lead I advocate fully for that kind of behaviour to win a game. It’s terrible when you’re team seeking a goal, but I do find the holier-than-thou criticism of it a bit weird. What are Italy supposed to do, play with Corinthian jizz and verve and leave themselves open to the opposition attack? Nah.

Anyway, Belgium went full Roberto Martinez, and you never want to go full Roberto Martinez. Italy v Spain in the semi-final is one to look forward to, for sure.

Meanwhile, it looks like William Saliba, who withdrew from the France Olympics squad this week, will spend next season on loan with Marseille.