Italy
Italy to invest in waste management in Bangladesh: Ambassador Enrico
Italy is keen to invest in solid waste management and development of green technology in leather sector in Bangladesh.
Italian ambassador to Dhaka Enrico Nunziata on Sunday expressed this intention during a courtesy call on BSCIC Chairman Mustaque Hassan at his office in Tejgaon.
The ambassador wanted gurantee of uninterrupted supply to the waste management plant from which electricity and organic fertilizer would be produced.
Italian company is assessing waste quantity and possibility of setting up a full-fledged waste management plant in Savar leather industrial hub.
Read: Invest in technology to improve waste management: UN chief
The chairman of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) urged Italian investment in different economic zones in the country.
The government is working to establish ecofriendly 100 economic zones on 40000 acres of land by 2041.
Additional secretary (BSCIC) Kazi Shakhawat Hosain, senior BSCIC officials were present,
G20 leaders to tackle energy prices, other economic woes
Leaders of the Group of 20 countries gathering for their first in-person summit since the pandemic took hold will confront a global recovery hampered by a series of stumbling blocks: an energy crunch spurring higher fuel and utility prices, new COVID-19 outbreaks and logjams in the supply chains that keep the economy humming and goods headed to consumers.
The summit will allow leaders representing 80% of the global economy to talk — and apply peer pressure — on all those issues. Analysts question how much progress they can make to ease the burden right away on people facing rising prices on everything from food and furniture to higher heating bills heading into winter.
Health and financial officials are sitting down in Rome on Friday before presidents and prime ministers gather for the G-20 Saturday and Sunday, but the leaders of major economic players China and Russia won’t be there in person. That may not bode well for cooperation, especially on energy issues as climate change takes center stage just before the U.N. Climate Change Conference begins Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland.
Here’s a look at some of the economic issues facing G-20 leaders:
THE PANDEMIC RECOVERY
The International Monetary Fund says the top priority for the economic recovery is simple: speed up the vaccination of the world population. Yet big headlines on vaccine cooperation may not be forthcoming at the Rome summit.
The G-20 countries have supported vaccine-sharing through the U.N.-backed COVAX program, which has failed to alleviate dire shortages in poor countries. Donated doses are coming in at a fraction of what is needed, and developed countries are focused on booster shots for their own populations.
Negotiations before the summit have not focused on a large number of vaccines that could be made available, though countries talked about strengthening health systems.
Meanwhile, rising consumer prices and government stimulus programs to help economies bounce back from the pandemic may be discussed, but central banks tend to deal with higher prices and stimulus spending is decided at the national level.
Read: No pathway to reach the Paris Agreement’s 1.5˚C goal without the G20: UN chief
GLOBAL TAXES
One major economic deal is already done: The G-20 will likely be a celebration of an agreement on a global minimum corporate tax, aimed at preventing multinational companies from stashing profits in countries where they pay little or no taxes.
All G-20 governments signed on to the deal negotiated among more than 130 countries, and it now faces an ambitious timeline to get approved and enacted through 2023.
U.S. President Joe Biden has tied his domestic agenda to it — creating a global minimum tax can allow the United States to charge higher taxes without the risk of companies shifting their profits to tax havens. U.S. adoption is key because so many multinational companies are headquartered there.
The agreement also helps remove trade tensions between the U.S. and Europe. It allows nations including France, Italy and Spain to back off digital services taxes that targeted U.S. tech companies Google, Facebook and Amazon.
Biden goes to the G-20 with his tax and economic agenda still subject to congressional negotiations. That means he will be unable to show that the U.S. is leading on global corporate taxes, though his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said G-20 leaders understand the nature of congressional talks.
“They’ll say, ‘Is President Biden on track to deliver on what he said he’s going to deliver?’ And we believe one way or the other, he will be on track to do that,” Sullivan said.
HIGH ENERGY PRICES
The summit offers an opportunity for dialogue on high oil and gas prices because it includes delegations from major energy producers Saudi Arabia and Russia, major consumers in Europe and China, and the U.S., which is both.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin plan to participate remotely.
“Perhaps the most important thing the G20 could do is to tell those among them that are major energy suppliers that they should think about their future,” said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank.
If energy prices are too high in the developed world, it will only speed up the move away from fossil fuels, “which is ultimately, in the long run, bad for the suppliers,” he said.
The White House says Biden intends to engage with other key leaders about energy prices, with oil recently hitting a seven-year high in the U.S. at over $84 per barrel and the international Brent crude benchmark reaching a three-year peak at over $86.
“We are definitely in an energy crisis, there is no other way to put it,” said Claudio Galimberti, senior vice president of analysis at Rystad Energy and an expert in oil market demand.
But he said it’s unlikely the G-20 “can take any decision that has immediate impact.”
So far, Saudi-led OPEC and allies including Russia, dubbed OPEC+, have ignored Biden’s pleas to increase production faster than its pace of 400,000 barrels per day each month into next year.
In one bright spot, Russian President Vladimir Putin told state-controlled company Gazprom to pump more gas into storage facilities in Europe, where prices have quintupled this year and fears have spread about winter shortages.
But producing nations “are in a powerful position,” Galimberti said. “There is no one who can put pressure on OPEC+.”
Read:G20 leadership vital in defense against COVID-19: UN chief
SUPPLY CHAINS
Biden will press for countries to share more information about troubles with supply chains that have slowed growth in the developed world. Port and factory closures, shortages of shipping containers and rising demand have contributed to backlogs at ports and delays for deliveries of everything from bicycles to computer chips used in smartphones and cars.
Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, said the president would push for more transparency about identifying logjams with other governments: “How do we know, at every level, where there may be bottlenecks or breaks in the supply chain so that we can quickly respond to them?”
Trade expert Chad P. Bown, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, agreed that sharing information can be helpful but said “there’s very little anyone can do” now about the backups over a lack of shipping containers.
Longer term, leaders can discuss efforts to diversify supply of key goods such as masks, other medical protective equipment and semiconductors.
“There is a call to diversify some production of semiconductors geographically” away from Asia, Bown said.
The U.S. and the European Union are talking about finding ways to incentivize chip production at home without starting a subsidy war — for instance, by agreeing on which sectors of the semiconductor industry each side would seek to attract.
30 more Bangladeshis rescued from the Mediterranean return from Tunisia: BRAC
Thirty more Bangladeshis, rescued in the Mediterranean Sea on their way to Italy, returned to Dhaka Thursday from Tunisia.
All of them, who were victims of human trafficking, arrived home on a Turkish Airlines flight at around 12:00 pm, Brac Migration Programme head Shariful Hasan said.
They are now under the care of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport authority and being provided with emergency support, including food and water.
Of them, 7 are from Shariatpur,6 from Madaripur, 4 from Gopalganj, 3 from Tangail, 2 each from Faridpur, Kishoreganj and Sylhet and 1 each from Cumilla, Dhaka, Noakhali and Munshiganj.
Earlier this year they went to Dubai with visit visas and then moved to Libya and finally to Tunisia. Next, they crossed the Mediterranean through Tunisia and headed towards Italy.
Read: 13 Bangladeshis rescued in Mediterranean return home
Similarly, 13 Bangladeshi victims returned from Tunisia on August 19, 17 on July 1 and 7 more on March 24.
According to information provided by BRAC, around 5,278 Bangladeshis entered Europe this year in similar ways.
As many as 65,000 people entered Europe illegally from Bangladesh in the past 12 years among which 40,000 crossed the Mediterranean Sea in risky voyages.
Most of them belong to the age group 25-50, added BRAC sources.
Read: 49 Bangladeshi migrants rescued from Mediterranean
Many of them have become victims of either trafficking or smuggling into several countries – Libya, Tunisia, Malta, Bosnia and Herzegovina even amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Untold numbers have perished of course.
Bangladesh now tops the list of source countries whose nationals have tried to cross into Europe through the dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean Sea.
UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, recorded 937 deaths in just the first six months of this year in the Mediterranean, many of them Bangladeshis.
Also, Covid-19-induced worsening poverty situation can be linked with people's desperation to take risky journeys, crossing the Mediterranean Sea and land routes to reach Europe.
Meanwhile, Covid-19 has increased the risk of trafficking not only for potential migrants who are looking for better opportunities in Europe. Recent trends also suggest that traffickers are using social media platforms to lure potential victims of human trafficking.
Around 4,510 irregular Bangladeshi nationals entered Italy, Malta, Spain or Greece in 2020 through sea and by land, according to the International Organization for Migration Displacement Tracking Matrix.
At least 17 Bangladeshi migrants drowned in a shipwreck off Tunisia as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe, the Tunisian Red Crescent said in July.
On July 3, at least 43 migrants, including Bangladeshis, went missing while 84 were rescued after a boat heading towards Europe drowned off the coast of Tunisia.
Several migrant boats sank recently while trying to reach Europe as more people are now trying to make the dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean to the continent amid warmer summer weather.
Between May 18 and June 24 this year, Tunisian naval authorities rescued over 700 Bangladeshis, shipwrecked in the Mediterranean on their way to Europe from Libya.
They were part of at least 3,332 Bangladeshis who have so far been either rescued or detained on their way to the continent this year.
Once lagging, Europe catches up to the US in vaccinations
Despite a sluggish start, the European Union’s COVID-19 vaccination drive has caught up to that of the United States, where the slowdown of the country’s once-vaunted campaign has contributed to the virus’s deadly comeback.
In mid-February, less than 4% of people living in the 27-nation EU were at least partially vaccinated against the coronavirus, compared with nearly 12% in the U.S, according to Our World in Data, an online science publication connected to the University of Oxford.
Read:Pizza for shots: UK targets young with vaccine incentives
Now the EU has surpassed the U.S. by that same measure, with some 60% of the bloc’s residents receiving at least one dose, versus less than 58% of Americans.
In Italy, where roughly 63% of people 12 and older are fully protected, Premier Mario Draghi took a victory lap this past week.
“I said that I don’t want to celebrate successes, but it must be said that Italy has inoculated more doses per 100 inhabitants than France, Germany, the United States,” he said as the country’s vaccine verification program went into effect Friday.
People in Italy must now show proof they have had at least one vaccine dose, recovered from COVID-19 or recently tested negative for the virus if they want to dine indoors, use gyms or go to concerts, theaters, museums and tourist sites such as the Colosseum.
European authorities attribute success in Italy and elsewhere to nationalized health care and a history of public confidence in the safety of immunizations.
The EU’s slow process for approving the vaccinations set the bloc back at the beginning, but that is now paying dividends because it is instilling more confidence in the rapidly developed formulas, said Dr. Peter Liese, a European Parliament member from Germany.
While the U.S. and Britain issued emergency authorizations of vaccines to get shots into arms quickly, the EU went through the longer process of granting full approvals, putting it weeks behind.
“I am convinced that we have a good argument to explain to people still hesitating that the vaccine was properly tested in Europe,” Liese said recently. “Now it becomes clear that not only the pace of vaccination in the first months but also the long-term strategy is important.”
The turnaround in Spain has been pronounced. In mid-April, when nearly a quarter of all Americans were fully vaccinated, only 7% of Spaniards were similarly protected, according to Our World in Data. Now, nearly 60% of Spain’s roughly 47 million people are fully vaccinated, while about half the U.S. is.
Portugal, with around 10 million people, had fully vaccinated around a third of its population by the end of June. Now officials say it is on track to reach 70% by the end of the summer.
Read:UK recognises Bangladesh's Dr Jara as 'Vaccine Luminary'
Like the American vaccination drive, the European Union effort started around Christmas and struggled to meet initial demand. But it quickly turned into a major political embarrassment for European officials, as the U.S. and Britain jumped ahead.
The major factor holding back the EU initially was its decision to purchase vaccines as a bloc instead of as individual countries. The move ensured smaller member nations weren’t left out, but it ended up taking more time to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies, said Giovanna De Maio, a visiting fellow in international relations at George Washington University.
The U.S. was also more efficient in distributing the vaccine, quickly setting up large-scale vaccination sites and also supplying shots to neighborhood pharmacies, groceries and other places, while the EU initially focused on hospitals and other medical facilities, she said.
EU nations were also overly confident manufacturers would deliver. As it turned out, Astra-Zeneca failed to produce its shots on time and delivered a paltry number of doses. Concerns over its safety and effectiveness also contributed to vaccine skepticism. But with the major rollout of the Pfizer shot, things turned around.
Meanwhile, the U.S. vaccination effort peaked and then dropped off dramatically in the face of significant hesitancy and outright hostility, fueled by misinformation and partisan politics.
As of the end of July, the U.S. was dispensing under 600,000 shots a day on average, down from a peak of over 3.4 million a day in April. The highly contagious delta variant has sent new daily cases soaring over the past month to levels not seen since February. The vast majority of those hospitalized were not vaccinated.
Still, not all is well within the EU. Discrepancies between member states are huge. For example, in the Netherlands, 85% of adults have received at least one dose. In Bulgaria, it is less than 20%.
There are also troubling signs that Europe’s campaign is losing steam.
In Germany, where 54% of the population is fully vaccinated, the number of shots being dispensed per day has declined from more than 1 million in May to about 500,000.
Officials there have begun pushing for more vaccinations at megastores and in city centers and are offering incentives. A vaccination drive in Thuringia state included free bratwurst, while sites in Berlin planned to have DJs play music this weekend in hopes of encouraging young people to get inoculated.
Read:UK urges commitment to vaccinate the world by end of 2022
De Maio said she believes nationwide vaccine mandates like her native Italy’s Green Pass program could help EU nations avoid America’s fate.
“European politicians see it coming and they’re taking these measures,” she said of the potential for vaccination efforts to stall in Europe. “They’re desperate trying to avoid that because Europe can’t afford another lockdown, given the big economic toll COVID has already taken.”
Venice bans large cruise ships to save World Heritage title amid mixed reviews
Italy's decision earlier this week to ban oversized cruise ships from sailing into Venice is bound to reset the balance between the environmental and safety needs of the canal city and its status as one of Italy's top tourist destinations. But some key observers are already complaining that the new rules do not go far enough.
The presence of large, multi-storey cruise liners in and around Venice has been a source of frustration for locals for more than a decade now. But the problem was put on the back burner during the coronavirus pandemic: the city was free of cruise ships between February 2020 and last month, when the 2,500-passenger MSC Orchestra entered the Venetian Lagoon amid protests from locals.
Read:UNESCO watching as Venice grapples with over-tourism
This week, in what Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini called a "historic" move, Italy's cabinet of ministers approved a ban on ships weighing more than 25,000 metric tons or longer than 180 meters (590 feet) entering the lagoon basin near Venice's St. Mark's Square, the narrow Giudecca Canal and the surrounding areas starting Aug. 1.
For comparison, the MSC Orchestra weighs more than 90,000 tons and is 295 meters (965 feet) in length. The largest cruise liners that docked in Venice before the pandemic sometimes topped 200,000 tons, according to news reports.
The decree was front-page news in Italy, and elicited praise from environmentalists and culture advocates alike, especially after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) warned that Venice's status as a UNESCO World Heritage site could be put in jeopardy by the ships.
But it earned mixed reviews from the city's beleaguered business community, which is highly dependent on tourism. After nearly a year and a half of travel restrictions, the city's restaurants, shops and tour companies had been banking on a strong tourist season this year. The cruise ship ban will cut into that.
Read:Europe flooding toll over 180 as rescuers dig deeper
According to Gianfranco Lorenzo, head of research at the Center for Tourism Studies in Florence, the ban is likely to reduce the number of tourists arriving by cruise ship by half over the long haul, from an average 1.3 million to 1.5 million per year before the pandemic. But he told Xinhua that, overall, tourism revenues would probably suffer just a modest impact.
"Without the signature view of St. Mark's Square and the rest of Venice, coming to Venice on a cruise will surely seem less attractive to some tourists," Lorenzo said. "But the city has already said it will focus on more high-level tourism, and if it does that the huge cruise ships would be less relevant anyway. Over time, the impact from the ban will diminish."
The ships have proved controversial because of their negative effects on the local ecosystem and air quality, plus what Andreina Zitelli, a professor and activist member of the Venice Environmental Association, called the "unknown" impacts on the city's ancient infrastructure of bridges and buildings with underwater foundations.
But Zitelli worried that the new ban does not go far enough. She noted that the big ships that once passed through the Giudecca Canal will after Aug. 1 be rerouted 22 kilometers (13.8 miles) to the mainland port of Marghera through a far less picturesque route, unseen from the center of Venice. Still, she said, the ships will continue to do damage even on the new route and therefore they should eventually be banned completely.
Read:France: Thousands protest against vaccination, COVID passes
"We won't see the ships, but they'll still do damage," Zitelli said. "We have to do what is necessary to protect our fragile city."
Despite the ban, Venice's UNESCO status remains on the agenda of the ongoing World Heritage Committee meeting, which opened Friday in Fuzhou, China.
Italy keen to invest in Bangladesh’s rural infrastructure
Italy has expressed interest in investing 200 million Euros in Bangladesh for development of rural infrastructure, transportation system, drinkable water and drainage system.
Italian Envoy to Bangladesh Enrico Nunziata expressed the interest on Sunday during a meeting with Local Government, Rural Development (LGRD) Minister Md Tajul Islam.
Tajul urged the Italian government to assist in implementing the ‘My Village My Town’ ideology of Bangladesh government which aims to take all the amenities of towns to remote villages.
He thanked Italy’s envoy for showing interest in investing in these sectors.
He emphasized on enhancing bilateral and economic ties between the two countries and expressed hope it will reach new dimensions and be strengthened in future.
Enrico Nunziata lauded Bangladesh as a country with immense possibilities.
England, Italy set for thrilling EURO 2020 showdown on Sunday
England and Italy are set to face off on Sunday to be crowned the best in European football at London's iconic Wembley Stadium.
Italy are looking forward to win their first European title after 53 years when they beat Yugoslavia (1-1 and 2-0) in the EURO 1968 final, Anadolu Agency reported.
They then lost two finals in European Championships, a 2-1 loss to France in EURO 2000 and a 4-0 defeat to Spain in EURO 2012.
The Azzurri's defeat to Spain in EURO 2012 final is the biggest margin of defeat in a European Championship final.
With four final matches at the European Championships, they are now tied with Spain and the Soviet Union for second place behind Germany, which appeared in six finals.
Also read: Brazil and Argentina clash in a soccer final for 5th time
Roberto Mancini's side topped Group A by beating Turkey and Switzerland 3-0, and sealing a 1-0 victory against Wales.
Following the group stage, they beat Austria in the last 16 and Belgium 2-1 in the quarterfinals, moving to the final after defeating Spain on penalties in the semifinals.
They conceded three goals, while Ciro Immobile, Federico Chiesa, Manuel Locatelli, Lorenzo Insigne and Matteo Pessina scored two goals each.
According to Anadolu Agency, the historic EURO 2020 game with 60,000 spectators will be the Three Lions' first-ever final in the European Championship, and their first final appearance in a major tournament since claiming the 1966 World Cup title.
England won only two of their last 14 games against Italy in all competitions, 2-0 in June 1997 and 2-1 in August 2013 – both friendly matches.
However, in the 1977 World Cup qualification, the English team won against Italy 2-0 – the only victory in eight competitive games during the tournament.
Also read: Copa America 2021: Lionel Messi vs Neymar da Silva
They are unbeaten in their last 12 matches in all competitions, keeping 10 clean sheets and conceding just two goals.
Collecting seven points, England won Group D in the EURO 2020 ahead of Croatia, Czech Republic, and Scotland.
The Three Lions reached the final, eliminating Germany, Ukraine, and Denmark, respectively, conceding just one goal following the conclusion of the group stage.
Only three nations have ever lifted the Euros title on home ground – Spain (1964), Italy (1968), and France (1984).
Portugal (2004) and France (2016) made it to the final, but lost.
The match will be officiated by Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers.
The 48-year-old was also the referee in the 2014 World Cup's group stage match when England suffered a 2-1 defeat to Italy.
Italy beats Spain on penalties, reaches Euro 2020 final
Facing a wall of nervous blue-and-white clad Italy fans behind the goal, Jorginho took his trademark hop and skip before calmly stroking in the winning penalty.
So much for the pressure of a shootout in the European Championship semifinals.
A dash of Italian panache completed a 4-2 penalty-shootout win over Spain at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday, setting up a title match against either England or Denmark back at the same stadium on Sunday.
The match finished 1-1 after extra time and provided Italy with its toughest test of the tournament, with Spain controlling possession for long periods. Federico Chiesa scored for Italy with a curling shot in the 60th minute but substitute Alvaro Morata equalized for Spain in the 80th.
Read:Longtime tormentor Italy stands in way of Spain at Euro 2020
Morata, dropped from the starting lineup for the first time in a tournament during which he has received verbal abuse and even death threats from his own fans, will go down as Spain’s scapegoat once again after having a penalty saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma in the next-to-last kick of the shootout.
As he walked back to the center circle with his head bowed, Jorginho made the opposite journey and didn’t make the same mistake.
The Chelsea midfielder has his own style when it comes to taking penalties and he didn’t abandon it when it mattered most, sparking a throng of celebrations as Italy’s players sprinted from the halfway line.
Jorginho was mobbed. Italy coach Roberto Mancini was hugged by the rest of coaching staff. The players lined up on the edge of the area and ran together, holding hands, toward the fans.
Leonardo Bonucci went further, leaping over the advertising hoardings to get even closer to the crazed supporters whose loud cheering had lifted the team in their most difficult moments.
“We’re delighted we could provide this wonderful entertainment to the Italian people,” Mancini said. “One game to go.”
Riding a national record unbeaten run of 33 games, Italy will play in its fourth European final and look to win the title for a second time, after 1968.
It’s quite the redemption story for a country which failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
“This group is amazing,” Mancini said. “Everyone wants to win, but this group of players wanted to do something special.”
Read:Euro2020 semi-finalists have been determined
They have had the aura of champions since Day 1 of the tournament and they’ll be sticking around until the last day, too. But it’s at the home of English soccer where the team has had its toughest matches.
Against Austria in the round of 16, the Italians were taken to extra time at Wembley and they had to go the distance, too, against Spain.
Spain’s striker-free formation initially flummoxed the Azzurri, who have become a more progressive team under Mancini but were given a clinic at times in ball possession and movement in midfield.
Experienced center backs Giorgio Chiellini and Bonucci looked uncertain at times, not knowing whether to drop back or follow deep-lying forward Dani Olmo — who started ahead of Morata — into the center of midfield.
Spain’s pressing also drew some rash clearances from the back from Italy. That created the team’s best chance in the first half with Ferran Torres’ shot requiring a low save from Donnarumma.
The Italians had even more problems when Morata came on as a substitute but, by then, Chiesa had put them ahead after latching onto a loose ball, cutting inside and curling a shot into the far corner. It was his second goal at Wembley in this tournament, having scored just as impressively against Austria.
Morata’s movement stretched Italy’s defense to set up chances for Mikel Oyarzabal and Olmo. Then he scored for the third time at Euro 2020.
For a player often accused of wasting chances when he has too much time in front of goal, Morata showed calmness to sidefoot in a left-footed shot after exchanging passes with Olmo at the edge of the area.
Morata grabbed a camera behind the goal and thrust his face into it. But he had nowhere to hide after becoming the second Spain player to miss in the shootout — after Olmo — following 30 minutes of extra time.
Read:Denmark beats Czechs 2-1 to reach Euro 2020 semifinals
“He really has a lot of personality,” Spain coach Luis Enrique said of Morata. “He wanted to take a penalty even though he’s been through some tough times in this competition.”
Italy started the shootout with Manuel Locatelli’s shot saved by Unai Simon, but Andrea Belotti, Bonucci and Federico Bernardeschi all scored before Jorginho.
Spain, a three-time European champion, beat Switzerland in a penalty shootout just to get to Wembley. Having also been taken to extra time by Croatia in the last 16, the Spanish certainly took the long route to the semifinals but their journey ended there.
“Everyone made Italy big favorites,” Spain midfielder Sergio Busquets said, “but we demonstrated we were superior to them.”
Longtime tormentor Italy stands in way of Spain at Euro 2020
They are opponents who have long struck fear into the heart of Spanish soccer.
The Italians: tough, defensively strong, cynical. Winners by whatever means possible — or so it was widely perceived in Spain anyway.
And Luis Enrique knows all about it.
Read:Italy advances to semifinals at Euro 2020
The current Spain coach was a member of the national team that was beaten by Italy 1-0 in the 1994 World Cup quarterfinals. As famous as the 88th-minute winning goal by Roberto Baggio was the elbow to Luis Enrique’s face administered by Italy’s hard man in defense, Mauro Tassotti.
The violent act went unpunished during the game — Tassotti would later get an eight-match ban — but wasn’t forgotten in Spain. The photo of an anguished Luis Enrique, blood pouring from his broken nose onto a splattered white towel, has gone down in history, and is often brought out whenever the two rivals meet.
Like they will at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday in the European Championship semifinals.
“We’ve spoken a few times since but that’s in the past, part of footballing history,” Luis Enrique said Monday about the incident with Tassotti. “Both of us, of course, would’ve preferred that had gone differently but there’s nothing more to say.”
Actually, Luis Enrique doesn’t appear to hold any grudges toward the Azzurri, his feelings possibly changing after spending a year coaching Italian club Roma in the 2011-12 season.
“It’s a country I’m very fond of,” he said. “Whenever I’ve a bit of free time, I always like to visit Italy. It’s lovely to come up against the Azzurri — it’s always very nice.”
Many in Spain would disagree.
For 88 years, Spain didn’t beat Italy in a competitive match and an inferiority complex naturally grew. A clash of styles — typically attacking Spain against defensive Italy — always went one way.
Also read: Euro2020 semi-finalists have been determined
Until 2008, that is. That was when a weight was lifted from a nation as Spain defeated Italy in a penalty shootout in Vienna in the European Championship quarterfinals on its way to its first continental title in 44 years.
Four years later, Spain would beat Italy again at Euro 2012, this time 4-0 in Kyiv for the most lop-sided score in a final in the tournament’s history.
Yet Spain’s title defense was ended in the last 16 five years ago by a limited but tactically superior Italy coached by Antonio Conte, which won 2-0 in Paris.
The teams, then, will be meeting in a fourth straight tournament. This match promises to be different, though, purely because of the way Italy’s approach has altered since Roberto Mancini took over as coach in 2018.
Sure, the trademark Italian robustness in defense is still there, but the team has an attacking swagger these days and also has become more of a passing team. They’re not in Spain’s league in terms of possession, but then again who is?
“We’re leaders in the possession stats, but they too are a side who enjoy playing with the ball. So that’s going to be the first battle to win,” Luis Enrique said. “But they’re also very good without the ball. We need the ball. We want to have it.”
Spain has the squad with youngest average age in the tournament — at 24.1 years — and there’s a sense that Luis Enrique feels his players have exceeded expectations by reaching the semifinals.
It’s why he was so proud of getting past Switzerland in the quarterfinals, albeit with the need of a penalty shootout.
Also read: Italy advances to semifinals at Euro 2020
“It’s impossible to understate this,” he said. “We’re not an experienced national team.”
Indeed, when it comes to being streetwise at international level, few can top the Italians.
A clip of Italy striker Ciro Immobile falling dramatically in the area and apparently feigning injury during the win over Belgium in the quarterfinals, only for him to instantly spring to his feet moments later after Nicola Barella scored the opening goal, has been spread widely over social media.
Italy defender Leonardo Bonucci laughed it off on Monday, saying “the joy and excitement of a goal in matches such as these means you don’t experience any more pain.” But to some it was another classic example of gamesmanship.
It’s why players like Champions League winners Cesar Azpilicueta, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba will be so important for Spain to guide the team’s younger players at Wembley.
“We’re not an experienced team,” Luis Enrique said, “but it doesn’t mean we don’t have experience of the game. Many of our players have played at a very high level and are used to these games.
“I just hope we’re up to the challenge.”
Italy advances to semifinals at Euro 2020
Nicolò Barella and Lorenzo Insigne scored a goal each to give Italy a 2-1 win over Belgium and a spot in the European Championship semifinals.
Romelu Lukaku pulled one back with a penalty right before halftime but the Belgians missed further chances to equalize in the second half.
Read: Spain beats Switzerland in penalty shootout
Barella scored in the 31st minute after eluding two Belgium defenders and sending the ball in off the far post. Insigne got the second in the 44th when he put a curling shot inside the far top corner.
Giovanni Di Lorenzo conceded the penalty by pushing Jeremy Doku. Lukaku scored with a shot down the middle.
It was only the second goal Italy conceded at the tournament.
Italy will next play Spain in the semifinals on Tuesday at Wembley Stadium in London.