European Football Championship 2012 / final round
The final round of the 2012 European Football Championship was part of the 14th European Football Championship in Poland and the Ukraine , which took place from June 21 to July 1, 2012 . This article covers the individual games in this final round and their results.
Overview
Qualified teams
Due to their results in the group stage of the European Football Championship in Poland and Ukraine, 8 teams qualified for the final round:
Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
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1. Czech Republic | 1. Germany | 1. Spain | 1. England |
2. Greece | 2. Portugal | 2. Italy | 2. France |
Schedule final round
1 win on penalties
Quarter finals
Czech Republic - Portugal 0: 1 (0: 0)
Czech Republic | Portugal | Lineup | |||||||
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Petr Čech - Theodor Gebre Selassie , Tomáš Sivok , Michal Kadlec , David Limberský - Tomáš Hübschman (86 Tomáš Pekhart ), Jaroslav Plašil - Petr Jiráček , Vladimír Darida (61st Jan Rezek ), Václav Pilař - Milan Baroš Coach: Michal Bílek |
Rui Patrício - João Pereira , Pepe , Bruno Alves , Fábio Coentrão - Raúl Meireles (88th Rolando ), Miguel Veloso , João Moutinho - Nani (84th Custódio ), Hélder Postiga (40th Hugo Almeida ), Cristiano Ronaldo Coach: Paulo Bento |
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0: 1 Cristiano Ronaldo (79.) | |||||||||
Limberský (90.) | Nani (26th), Veloso (27th) | ||||||||
Player of the Match: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) |
Germany - Greece 4: 2 (1: 0)
Germany | Greece | Lineup | |||||||
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Manuel Neuer - Jérôme Boateng , Mats Hummels , Holger Badstuber , Philipp Lahm - Sami Khedira , Bastian Schweinsteiger - Marco Reus (80th Mario Götze ), Mesut Özil , André Schürrle (67th Thomas Müller ) - Miroslav Klose (80th Mario Gómez ) Trainer: Joachim Loew |
Michalis Sifakis - Vasilis Torosidis , Sokratis , Kyriakos Papadopoulos , Giorgos Tzavelas (46th Giorgos Fotakis ) - Grigoris Makos (72 Nikos Liberopoulos ), Ioannis Maniatis - Sotiris Ninis (46 Theofanis Gekas ), Konstantinos Katsouranis , Georgios Samaras - Dimitrios Salpingidis coach : Fernando Santos ( Portugal )
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1: 0 Lahm (39th) 2: 1 Khedira (61st) 3: 1 Klose (68th) 4: 1 Reus (74th) |
1: 1 Samaras (55th) 4: 2 Salpingidis (89th, hand penalty) |
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Samaras (14th), Papastathopoulos (75th) | |||||||||
Player of the Match: Mesut Özil (Germany) |
Spain - France 2: 0 (1: 0)
Spain | France | Lineup | |||||||
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Iker Casillas - Álvaro Arbeloa , Gerard Piqué , Sergio Ramos , Jordi Alba - Xavi , Sergio Busquets , Xabi Alonso - David Silva (65th Pedro ), Cesc Fàbregas (67th Fernando Torres ), Andrés Iniesta (84th Santi Cazorla ) Coach: Vicente del Bosque |
Hugo Lloris - Anthony Réveillère , Adil Rami , Laurent Koscielny , Gaël Clichy - Yann M'Vila (79th Olivier Giroud ) - Mathieu Debuchy (64th Jérémy Ménez ), Yohan Cabaye , Florent Malouda (65th Samir Nasri ), Franck Ribéry - Karim Benzema Trainer: Laurent Blanc |
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1-0 Alonso (19th) 2-0 Alonso (90th, penalty kick) |
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Ramos (31.) | Cabaye (42nd), Ménez (76th) | ||||||||
Player of the Match: Xabi Alonso (Spain) |
England - Italy 0-0 aet, 2-4 pi E.
England | Italy | Lineup | |||||||
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Joe Hart - Glen Johnson , John Terry , Joleon Lescott , Ashley Cole - James Milner (61st Theo Walcott ), Steven Gerrard , Scott Parker (95th Jordan Henderson ), Ashley Young - Wayne Rooney - Danny Welbeck (61st Andy Carroll ) Trainer: Roy Hodgson |
Gianluigi Buffon - Ignazio Abate (90th + 1 ' Christian Maggio ), Andrea Barzagli , Leonardo Bonucci , Federico Balzaretti - Andrea Pirlo - Claudio Marchisio , Riccardo Montolivo , Daniele De Rossi (80th Antonio Nocerino ) - Mario Balotelli , Antonio Cassano (78th place) . Alessandro Diamanti ) coach: Cesare Prandelli |
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penalties shoot | |||||||||
1: 1 Gerrard 2: 1 Rooney Young hits the crossbar Cole fails to Buffon |
0: 1 Balotelli Montolivo misses the target 2: 2 Pirlo 2: 3 Nocerino 2: 4 Diamanti |
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Barzagli (83.), Maggio (94.) | |||||||||
Player of the Match: Andrea Pirlo (Italy) |
Semifinals
Portugal - Spain 0: 0 aet, 2: 4 i. E.
Portugal | Spain | Lineup | |||||||
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Rui Patrício - João Pereira , Pepe , Bruno Alves , Fábio Coentrão - Raúl Meireles (113th Silvestre Varela ), Miguel Veloso (106th Custódio ), João Moutinho - Nani , Hugo Almeida (81st Nélson Oliveira ), Cristiano Ronaldo Coach: Paulo Bento |
Iker Casillas - Álvaro Arbeloa , Gerard Piqué , Sergio Ramos , Jordi Alba - Xavi (87th Pedro ), Sergio Busquets , Xabi Alonso - David Silva (60th Jesús Navas ), Álvaro Negredo (54th Cesc Fàbregas ), Andrés Iniesta Trainers: Vicente del Bosque |
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penalties shoot | |||||||||
Moutinho fails to Casillas 1: 1 Pepe 2: 2 Nani Alves hits the crossbar |
Alonso fails to Patrício 0: 1 Iniesta 1: 2 Piqué 2: 3 Ramos 2: 4 Fàbregas |
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Coentrão (45th), Pepe (60th), Pereira (63rd), Alves (85th), Veloso (90th + 3 ') | Ramos (40.), Busquets (59.), Arbeloa (83.), Alonso (113.) | ||||||||
Player of the Match: Sergio Ramos (Spain) |
Note: Spain played with a mourning ribbon for defender Miquel Roqué Farrero, who died of cancer .
Germany - Italy 1: 2 (0: 2)
Germany | Italy | Lineup | |||||||
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Manuel Neuer - Jérôme Boateng (72nd Thomas Müller ), Mats Hummels , Holger Badstuber , Philipp Lahm - Bastian Schweinsteiger , Sami Khedira - Toni Kroos , Mesut Özil , Lukas Podolski (46th Marco Reus ) - Mario Gómez (46th Miroslav Klose ) Trainer: Joachim Loew |
Gianluigi Buffon - Federico Balzaretti , Andrea Barzagli , Leonardo Bonucci , Giorgio Chiellini - Andrea Pirlo - Claudio Marchisio , Riccardo Montolivo (63rd Thiago Motta ), Daniele De Rossi - Mario Balotelli (70th Antonio Di Natale ), Antonio Cassano (58th Alessandro Diamanti ) Trainer: Cesare Prandelli |
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1: 2 Özil (90th + 2 ', hand penalty) |
0: 1 Balotelli (20th) 0: 2 Balotelli (36th) |
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Hummels (90th + 4 ') | Balotelli (37.), Bonucci (61.), De Rossi (84.), Motta (89.) | ||||||||
Player of the Match: Andrea Pirlo (Italy) |
Note: Italy played with mourning bandages for a carabiniere who was killed in an explosion at an Afghan police training camp .
final
Spain - Italy 4: 0 (2: 0)
Spain | Italy | Lineup | |||||||
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Iker Casillas - Álvaro Arbeloa , Gerard Piqué , Sergio Ramos , Jordi Alba - Xavi , Sergio Busquets , Xabi Alonso - Cesc Fàbregas (75th Fernando Torres ) - David Silva (59th Pedro ), Andrés Iniesta (86th Juan Mata ) Trainers: Vicente del Bosque |
Gianluigi Buffon - Ignazio Abate , Andrea Barzagli , Leonardo Bonucci , Giorgio Chiellini (21st Federico Balzaretti ) - Andrea Pirlo - Claudio Marchisio , Riccardo Montolivo (57th Thiago Motta ), Daniele De Rossi - Mario Balotelli , Antonio Cassano (46th Antonio Di Natale ) Coach: Cesare Prandelli |
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1-0 Silva (14th) 2-0 Alba (41st) 3-0 Torres (84th) 4-0 Mata (89th) |
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Piqué (25.) | Barzagli (44.) | ||||||||
Thiago Motta (61st, as the exchange contingent was already exhausted) | |||||||||
Player of the Match: Andrés Iniesta (Spain) |
Although Spain was considered the biggest title favorite by all experts and betting providers even before the start of the tournament and Italy's entry into the finals was perceived as a surprise, an open duel was generally expected. This was not only due to the convincing performance of the Italians in the preliminary round match against the Iberians and in the final round, but also to the performance of the Spaniards, whose style of play had been criticized several times during the tournament. In addition, Italy was a feared opponent for Furia Roja as well as for the German team. Spain's only competitive win against Squadra Azzurra so far was in 1920. In this final, however, Spain showed one of its best performances in recent years and took its chance as first team ever to defend the European title.
The decisive factor was the individual class of Xavi and Iniesta, who have played a major role in the successes of recent years at both FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team. Both players each initiated a goal for the decisive 2-0 half-time lead. Italy held up well, but only came up with opportunities through set pieces and long-range shots. The second half began with an open exchange of blows; During the first few minutes both teams had great chances of scoring, Buffon and Casillas could prove their class. However, Italy was lucky at this stage of the game that referee Pedro Proença considered a handball by Bonucci in the penalty area as unintentional.
The decision of the game was not made by another goal, but by the injury of Thiago Motta only a few minutes after his substitution, when the substitution quota was already exhausted. Outnumbered Italy had nothing to oppose the Spaniards playing in a frenzy and no longer had any significant chances. Instead, the defending champion used the disintegration of the Italian defensive in the final phase with two more goals.
Spain's 4-0 win against Italy was not only Spain's highest win against the four-time world champions and, in addition to the win against Ireland in the preliminary round of the tournament, the highest win for the Spaniards at a European Championship finals, but also a record for the entire competition : Never before had a team won or lost a European Championship final so clearly, the previous record was Germany's 3-0 success against the Soviet Union in the 1972 final. Spain also had the previous sole record holder in terms of the number of European Championship titles Germany draw level.