Italy reach WEURO 2025 quarter-finals despite defeat against Spain
The Italy Women's National Team has qualified for the quarter-finals of the 2025 European Championship in Switzerland, despite falling to a 3-1 defeat against Spain on the final Group B matchday.
Whilst losing against La Roja left Italy exposed to the threat of Portugal moving level on points in second, the fact that Belgium beat Portugal in the other game on Friday night meant Italy were never in any serious danger.
Ironically, Inter forward Tessa Wullaert was the Belgium player who scored the early goal that dashed Portuguese confidence, and that game eventually ended 2-1. For at least half of Italy's match against Spain, though, there was every reason to think that the Azzurre did not need any favours.
An impressively intense start from Andrea Soncin's side saw Elisabetta Oliviero pounce on a lose ball and make it 1-0, and they maintained a threat on the attack right through until half-time, regardless of Athenea del Castillo's impressive equaliser.
The second-half was a very different story, as Patricia Guijarro's shot from distance crept into the bottom corner of Laura Giuliani's goal after just four minutes. From then on, it was almost entirely one-way traffic, with the next Spanish goal looking completely inevitable.
Italy did actually hold firm until the 91st minute, when Esther Gonzalez met a cross and Laura Giuliani, playing her 100th game for the Azzurre, couldn't keep it out. That goal proved irrelevant, though.
Who will Italy face in the quarter-finals of Women's EURO 2025?
Finishing second in Group B behind Spain means that Italy must face the winners of Group A. That looks to be a more daunting task than it did when the groups were initially drawn for this tournament.
Norway have won all three of their games in Group A and have hinted at finally delivering on what a squad of such individually talented players promises, albeit with plenty of room for improvement. They have scored eight goals across the matches against Switzerland, Finland and Iceland, but have conceded five.
Italy will go into the game as slight underdogs, but having held their own against Spain once again, they shouldn't play like underdogs. Reaching the quarter-finals was generally viewed as being the minimum expectation for Italy this summer, so now the Azzurre can focus on doing something special, rather than worry about letting everyone down.