Media reaction: Italians reckon ‘God is Italian’ as Spanish ‘fell with honour’

Ecstatic media in Italy have hailed Roberto Mancini as the messiah after Tuesday’s penalty shoot out Euro 2020 semi-final victory over Spain — with one going as far as saying ‘God is Italian’.

The Azzurri extended their unbeaten record to 33 matches under Mancini, booking their place in Sunday’s decider back at Wembley.

Corriere dello Sport’s front page (pictured) was dominated by the words ‘God is Italian’ as they celebrated reaching the final with ‘uncontrollable joy’.

Meanwhile, Gazzetta dello Sport teased the vanquished Spaniards, claiming they are going to have a ‘fiesta’ after their win, while Tuttosport described the Italy squad as ‘lions’. Gazzetta claims Italy as a nation went through ‘such suffering’ during the spectacle that lasted over two hours.

In Spain, however, the mood on the front pages was more subdued, with AS using the Italian phrase for ‘holy s***’ on their front page, next to an image of Morata’s spot-kick being saved by Donnarumma.

The paper insisted that Luis Enrique’s side deserved to be in the final and used quotes from the Spain manager saying they were ‘outstanding with a nine out of ten’ performance.

AS also claimed that everything is falling into England’s hands as they prepared for their semi-final against Denmark, with both the last four clash and the July 11 final at Wembley.

Meanwhile, Mundo Deportivo also used the image of Morata’s miss with the caption ‘Finished’ but claimed Spain ‘dominated’ the Wembley clash even if they ‘just fell short’.

Marca went for a different route on their front page, using an image of Enrique and goalkeeper Unai Simon embracing after the match with the words ‘with honour’ placed in large lettering above it.

Simon saved a spot-kick from Manuel Locatelli in the shootout which could have given Spain an advantage in the shootout, but Dani Olmo blazed his effort over the bar in the following penalty before Morata’s fatal miss.

Marca also claimed that Enrique’s side ‘played the better game’ compared to Italy but ‘the shootout smiled on the Azzurri’ but also insisted that ‘La Roja will return with their heads held high’