Over the course of their storied history as an international team, Italy have been known for defensive organisation and solidity. However, they displayed anything but in their Nations League quarter-final second leg with Germany.
Already 1-0 down to a Joshua Kimmich penalty in Sunday’s clash at Signal Iduna Park having lost the first leg 2-1, Italy conceded a goal that served as the antithesis of Catenaccio.
After Gianluigi Donnarumma had produced an excellent save to turn a Tim Kleindienst header behind, he and the Italy defence focused on remonstrating with each other, rather than preparing to defend the resulting corner.
Kimmich and Jamal Musiala took advantage by showing their speed of thought.
Kimmich corner taken quickly to catch Italy sleeping and set up Musiala's goal 😮 pic.twitter.com/e9HjkuBscZ
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The Bayern Munich pair took the corner quickly, with Musiala given the freedom of the box to tap into an empty net as Donnarumma continued to debate with his teammates.
It left Italy with a mountain to climb, and things soon got worse for the Azzurri when Kleindienst made it 3-0.
Two second-half goals from Moise Kean gave Italy hope. Despite that fightback, the manner in which Germany initially took command ensured Spalletti will have plenty of tough questions to answer.
