Italy 2-1 Belgium, a match in which we could sense that we would see new faces, with a view to preparing for the next World Cup, since there was only a third place at stake with a bitter taste for both teams. Italy came out with new names such as Berardi, Raspadori or Locatelli in the starting 11, but maintaining the structure of the team that was made with the last European Championship. Belgium, for its part, bet on many new faces, they did not bring out any of their stars as Italy did with Chiesa or Barella.
After a first half of the most even, we went to rest with 0-0 on the scoreboard. With an aroma of superiority from Belgium that was the one that first scared the Italians with a shot from Saelemaekers, where Donnarumma could only make the statue and watch how the ball crashed on the crossbar. At the end of the first half, Chiesa forgave a heads-up only in front of the goalkeeper, who only anticipated what would happen at the start of the second half.
Italy came out in a whirlwind and in the first minute Barella picked up a ball on the edge of a corner, and put the ball where Courtois could do nothing. After the goal Belgium seemed to wake up, it gave entry to De Bruyne and when it seemed that Belgium was carburating after crashing another ball against the crossbar they found a penalty in favor of Italy that would transform Berardi. Mancini brought in Jorginho and Cristante to sustain the match.
Meanwhile, a lonely De Bruyne tried again and again, generating all kinds of occasions to put Gigi to the test, who proved one more day, that he is a goalkeeper of black and white, capable of the best and the worst. Carrasco again ran into the stick and in the 86th minute in a counter directed once again by De Bruyne, De Ketelaere closed the gap to add emotion to the final minutes. Belgium did not get the prize to tie the game and its position in the FIFA rankings is in jeopardy if Brazil beat Colombia today and Uruguay on Thursday.