The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) announced the two semi-final matches of the UEFA Nations League 2020-21 after the draw in Nyon, Switzerland on December 3. Lot entered the semi-finals with France, Italy with an unbeaten record in their group, and Belgium, Spain - each team lost 1 match. In the semi-finals, Italy was chosen as the host.
According to the draw results, host Italy will face Spain in the first semi-final on October 6, 2021, at San Siro Stadium in Milan. The remaining match between Belgium and France will be played on October 7, at the Allianz Stadium in Turin.
After the semi-finals, the two losing teams will play the third-place match on October 10, at the Allianz Stadium. On the same day, the final match was held at San Siro Stadium.
The last time Spain and Italy met was in September 2017, at the Bernabeu (Madrid). At that time, the home team won 3-0, with an excellent performance by Isco alarcon.
The match in October next year will be the 37th time in the history of the two teams meeting. Statistics show the balance between these two giants when each team won 11 matches. Spain have won twice on the 11m mark (at EURO 2008 and the 2013 Confederations Cup).
The last time the two teams met in a major tournament was at EURO 2016, when coach Antonio Conte's team won 2-0 in the round of 16. After the 2018 World Cup defeat, Italy has made a strong change and is currently one of the teams with the highest performance in Europe. They are unbeaten in 22 matches, with the most recent loss being in September 2018.
While Italy met Spain as two opposing teams, with Belgium and France, fans expected an attractive double from the top stars. In terms of international record, the French team is better, but according to head-to-head statistics, Belgium is the dominant team with 33 wins, while France has 25 matches.
However, in the last 12 meetings, France have only lost 2 matches. The last time they met was in the 2018 World Cup semi-finals, with Les Bleus winning 1-0.
