Italy very much looked like a side that hadn’t qualified for the upcoming World Cup as they fell to a rather humiliating 3-0 defeat to Argentina in La Finalissima – the CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions – at Wembley on Wednesday evening.
The game between the Copa America and European Championship winners had a lot of excitement surrounding it since its organisation, but only one side on the night looked anything like being continental champions. Italy were poor from the start with a somewhat strange XI chosen by Roberto Mancini, and in the end the Azzurri were probably relieved to have lost by just three goals.
Lionel Messi worked some magic to tee up Inter’s Lautaro Martinez for the opener. Angel Di Maria, who has been heavily linked with Juventus, added a fine second by dinking over Paris Saint-Germain teammate Gianluigi Donnarumma, who himself had another night to forget for Italy. Paulo Dybala added a third late on.
In the second half, Italy lost their cool and were reduced to making petulant challenges. The Azzurri did well to end the game without having a man sent off.
The only positive on the night was perhaps Leonardo Spinazzola’s return, coming off the bench to again appear for La Nazionale.