Spain reign ends with loss to Italy

SAINT-DENIS, France — Spain’s era of dominance at the European Championship came to an end Monday when Italy beat the two-time defending champion 2-0 in the round of 16.

Italy was impressive from the start at Stade de France, stifling Spain’s attacking intent and creating several scoring opportunities with slick interplay.

The goals — one in either half — were enough for Italy to avoid its third consecutive elimination at the European Championship to Spain and secure a quarterfinal clash against another old foe, Germany. Giorgio Chiellini put his team ahead in the 33rd minute, when he poked the ball across the line after Spain goalkeeper David de Gea couldn’t hold on to a free kick by Eder.

In the second half, Spain came close to equalizing on a couple of occasions, including Sergio Ramos’ close-range header in the 76th minute that was stopped by by veteran Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.

Buffon also made another impressive save in the 90th minute when he managed to get down and stop Gerard Pique’s close-range strike.

As Spain swept forward in search of the equalizer, Italy counterattacked to put the match away . Graziano Pelle sealed the victory — Italy’s first competitive triumph over Spain since the 1994 World Cup — with his second goal of the tournament after a cross by Matteo Darmian in second-half injury time.

It was Italy’s first victory over Spain at the European Championship since it was defeated by the Spaniards 4-0 in the 2012 final. The Italians had also been eliminated by Spain in a penalty shootout in the 2008 quarterfinals.

The result ended Spain’s dominance in European soccer, following its championships in 2008 and 2012. Two years ago, defending its 2010 title, Spain was dumped out of the World Cup in Brazil at the group stage.

“We have to accept the disappointment. They were more efficient in the decisive moments,” Spain midfielder Andres Iniesta said. “In the second half, we played more like ourselves but we paid the price of also having to be careful on defense.”

Italy arrived in France written off by critics back, but it’s now in the hunt to win its first European Championship since 1968. Italy will play Germany in Bordeaux on Saturday in a rematch of the 2012 semifinal, which it won by 2-1.

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