Spain vs Italy Nations League semi-final preview: Where to watch, kick-off time, possible line-ups

Spain and Italy meet in the second UEFA Nations League semi-final on Thursday 15 June.

Where to watch Spain vs Italy on TV

Fans can find their local UEFA Nations League broadcast partner(s) here.

What do you need to know?

Spain ended Italy's world-record 37-game unbeaten run when the teams met in the last four of the 2021 Nations League finals. They were minutes away from missing out on a second consecutive semi-final appearance, but Álvaro Morata's late winner against Portugal secured top spot in Group A2 for La Roja, who have since replaced former boss Luis Enrique with ex-Under-19 and Under-21 coach Luis de la Fuente.

After failing to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, UEFA EURO 2020 winners Italy restored some pride by coming through a difficult group including Germany, England and Hungary to reach their second straight Nations League finals. Having lost their opening EURO 2024 qualifier to the Three Lions, Roberto Mancini's team will be eager to prove they still belong among the European elite with victory in the Netherlands.

Possible line-ups

Spain: Unai Simón; Carvajal, Le Normand, Laporte, Alba; Rodri, Zubimendi; Gavi, Asensio, Fabián; Morata

Italy: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Acerbi, Bonucci, Dimarco; Barella, Jorginho, Verratti; Zaniolo, Retegui, Raspadori

Reporters' views

Graham Hunter, Spain reporter
It's an era of seismic change for La Roja. Relatively new coach, no Sergio Busquets, no Pedri, a slightly bumpy start in EURO qualifying and sizeable changes from the last squad. It's only a year and a half since these teams met in the Nations League semi-final but neither Spain's scorer Ferran Torres or Mikel Oyarzabal, who set up that goal, are here. Indeed, only six of that 2021 squad travel to Enschede. But the bedrock of talent remains. De La Fuente is a talented, experienced and successful coach. The former Athletic Club full-back's task is to accelerate his influence on this group despite it being only his third match in charge.

Paolo Menicucci, Italy reporter
Mancini's men did not start their EURO 2024 qualifying campaign on the right foot and the Azzurri coach is continuing to rebuild after failing to qualify for the World Cup. They have found a new striker in Mateo Retegui – the Argentina-born player scored in both his first two games in an Azzurri shirt against England and Malta in March – and can count on several players who reached the finals of various UEFA club competitions this season. A trophy in the Netherlands would certainly help the team in terms of confidence during this rebuilding period.

View from the camps

Luis de la Fuente, Spain coach: "The team has been improving. I'm convinced that tomorrow's game will be a great one and, based on our yardstick, we're on the right track to establishing our own, strong brand of football. It's going to be very evenly matched between Italy and Spain; we have a very similar level and relatively similar characteristics, so the match will be decided by fine margins. We will try to control those fine margins. That's the way to win."

Jordi Alba, Spain defender: "I hope that we can lift the trophy, but we know that we're facing one of the best national teams in the world, in my opinion. If we do win this tournament we'll have faced two really powerful teams. It will be difficult, but we're coming into this semi-final with great momentum."

Roberto Mancini, Italy coach: "We have reached the Nations League finals for the second time and it's a good achievement, especially because we played the group stage with several youngsters. Winning the trophy would be very important, obviously, and we will certainly give our best."

Leonardo Bonucci, Italy defender: "Playing against Spain is always beautiful. Their approach is always very good with continuous ball possession which makes you run a lot. In recent years, however, we managed to earn good results with a similar style and tomorrow we want to win and reach the final."

Form guide (most recent first)

Spain: LWLLDW

Italy: WLLWWW