Young Spain beat old Italy to reach the final of the UEFA Nations League, ending the Blues' winning streak

In the 2021 UEFA semi-finals in San Siro, Milan, Italy, on Wednesday night, Ferran Torres scored twice to help Spain beat Italy, who played one less, to win 2-1 to advance to the final.

The City striker scored twice with Mikel Oyazabal in the first half, giving Spain a two-goal advantage at half-time. The departure of Italian defender Leonardo Bonucci also helped them, but the defending European champions showed their qualities and saved some face with Lorenzo Pellegrini's goal and also made the away team nervous in the last minutes.

Spain boss Luis Enrique surprised everyone by making his 17-year-old Garvey debut for the national team, and the youngster helped in midfield to help Spain get off to a good start. When Ferran Torres received a precise cross from Oyarzabal's left wing and scored, Spain took a 1-0 lead.

Moments later, the score was almost 2-0, with a shot from Marcos Alonso that took italy goalkeeper Donnarumma off the hook and was about to cross the goal line, only to not concede the ball again thanks to Bonucci's miraculous final-minute clearance.

Italy nearly equalised shortly after 60 minutes, first by Federico Bernardeschi, whose shot was saved by Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simon and a minute later, Lorenzo Insigne's shot was deflected.

The match then moved in favour of Spain as Bonucci's stupid elbow strike against Busquets led to the Italian veteran receiving a second yellow card, leaving the Blues with just 10 players on the field.

Luis Enrique's players were happy to take advantage of this, with another connection between Oyazabal and Ferran Torres scoring again, with Torres taking the former's cross and scoring the goal and extending Spain's lead.

Shortly after the start of the second half, Torres left the field with a minor injury and was replaced by Jeremy Pino.

Italy clearly showed more energy at the start of the second half, but when Jeremy's cross found Oyazabal, Spain was closer to the goal, whose header was deflected off target.

Overall, Spain were largely content with simply possession rather than pushing too hard to extend the lead, and their casual playing style almost allowed the Italian to take advantage of Sergio Busquets' missteps.

Luis Enrique replaced Cork with Mikel Merino, Brian Gil for Boblo Sarabia, and when Jeremy replaced Marcos Alonso, Spain was close to scoring three goals, but Donnarumma did well, low and made a fantastic save.

Spain would regret a mistake as Italy suddenly seized an opportunity in the late stages when spanish corner kicks led to a counter-attack by Chiesa, who provided an assist for Pellegrini and swept easily to narrow Spain's lead to 1-2.

In the end, though, Spain got tickets to Sunday's final, where they would face Belgium or France.

Match lineup:

1.- Italy: Donnaruma, Di Lorenzo, Bonucci, Bastoni, Emerson, Jorginho (Pellegrini, minimum 64), Villati (Locatelli, 58 mins), Barrera (Calabria, 72), Bernardeschi (Chiellini, 46 mins), Chiesa, Insigne (Keene, 58 mins)

2.- Spain: Unai Simon, Azpilicueta, Laporte, Paul Torres, Marcos Alonso; Cork (Merino, 75 mins) Busquets, Garvey (Roberto, 83); Oyazaba, Sarabia (Gil, 75), Torres (Pino, 49).