Talking about the “metaphor for society” that football supposedly is, has always been too one-sided, and it is tried especially when it suits you. Because a son of Algerian immigrants by the name of Zinédine Zidane had several great moments in a row with his game, experts declared the French 1998 World Cup team to mirror a more colorful, more permeable society in which social barriers had been overcome. As the following years showed, this was only partly true. The same thing happened in Germany when the young Özil for a while prettied up the doughy face of German rumble football.
Perhaps the essence of football can be explained much better if you keep an eye on its regularities as well as its contagious stage quality.
First law: Italy will always be Italy.
Second law: Europe's football south delivers great theater when the Squadra Azzurra meets Spain.
Third Law: There is no substitute for passion.
Fourth Law: Those with the most experience can dig deeper into their bag of tricks and are likely to win.
Brave Spaniards, clever Italians
That’s exactly what Italy’s legendary central defender Chiellini did when he joked with the German referee Brych during the draw before the penalty shoot-out, claimed the choice of sides and hugged his perplexed counterpart, Spanish captain Jordi Alba, with laughter. “It's just a game, baby,” he might have said. Chiellini's little posse was the first point win in a psycho thriller that the more savvy team won in the end. "God is Italian", it was said afterwards in the Italian press.
But even if it is true that victories are the greatest in the fat book of football history, the memories of the fans will also give the young Spaniards their piece of immortality. They had the best striker on the pitch, Dani Olmo, and the best midfielder, eighteen-year-old Pedri, who shook the most incredible passes from his ankle in his tenth international match. But above all of them - the brave Spaniards and the slightly more shrewd Italians - there was the special magic of an unforgettable match with speed, risk and passion.
In contrast to this semi-final, the administrative nature of the German round of 16 appearance against England only really emerged, and we were ashamed to see what our team had been at this European Championship: an exceptionally talented group that their coach had sedated with outdated recipes. How different the last pictures of the semi-finals Italy versus Spain! Coach Luis Enrique was even able to laugh at the defeat and hugged several of his Italian opponents extensively. A Spanish newspaper wrote about such a coach and such a team, which unfortunately cannot be said of Germany: This was “a defeat with a future”.