Leonardo Spinazzola has played astoundingly well for Italy at Euro 2020, helping the Azzurri progress to the semi-finals, where they'll play Spain at Wembley on Tuesday night.
However, the full-back will unfortunately miss the game, and the final should Italy make it there, after sustaining a ruptured Achilles tendon injury playing against Belgium.
A standout player in an impressive team, Spinazzola fell to the ground in the latter part of the game while chasing a ball he had knocked onto himself. The Italian broke down in tears on the Allianz Arena pitch, knowing full well that his tournament was over.
A scan on Saturday back in Rome revealed that the Roma player had suffered a ‘subcutaneous rupture of the left Achilles tendon’.
The 28-year-old will now miss Italy's semi-final against Spain. A key player for Roberto Mancini, this is a crucial miss from his starting line-up, and could prove the difference. It is likely Chelsea' Emerson will take his place and slot in at left-back, but he hasn't played much this season, with Ben Chilwell and Marcos Alonso preferred ahead of him.
Spinazzola started four of Italy's five games at Euro 2020 so far, missing the final group game against Italy as Mancini made wholesale changes to his side. They have won every game at the tournament up to now, with the full-back integral to the team. Despite not having scored, he was Italy's best player against Austria during their 2-1 in the last-16, and proved his worth once again as Italy beat Belgium in the quarter-finals, before going off injured.
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