Match Preview: England V Italy

The first semi final of the Euros will take place on Tuesday 22nd July after England dramatically booked their place in the semi's and Italy advancing with ease. Lets take a look at the game in full depth.

📸via mancity.com

How have the sides got on this tournament?

England have a lot of pressure on them going into the tournament as defending champions. They had a woeful start losing to France 2-1 and deservingly so. They then bounced back quickly and hammered Netherlands 4-0. They then thrashed their neighbours, Wales 6-1 to book their place in the next round. They then played in one of the games of the tournament, going 2-0 down to Sweden in the quarter-final, Bronze, Agyemang and Hampton were the hero's for the Lionesses. Bronze and Agyemang scoring 2 in 103 seconds to bring the game to extra time. After a dramatic penalty shootout with 9 penalties missed altogether, England had made it through to the final 4.

Italy haven't had the best tournament, they won 1, drawn 1 and lost 1 across their 3 group games. They beat Belgium 1-0 on the second day of the tournament with a strike from Arianna Caruso just before half-time. They then drew with Portugal 1-1 then lost out to the World Champions Spain 3-1 but still made it through. They played Norway in the quarter-finals, Cristiana Girelli scored in the 50th minute with Norway's Hegerberg equalising 15 minutes later, but it was Girelli again who was the hero and a 90th minute winner sealed the win for the Italians.

The sides have faced each other 9 times since 2009, with England beating Italy 9 times, and vice versa twice, with the sides failing to be separated only once. Tune in on the action on 8PM on ITV.