With a two-goal lead at half-time, Belgium took the tempo of the game into their own hands, and so far they have given Italy little chance, the most successful of which was undoubtedly the defence against Balotelli.

How to defend against Balotelli?

The first is to cut off the connection between Balotelli and the midfield, in the semi-finals, the German team's self-harm formation taught Belgium a lesson, they were given too much space to Balotelli by themselves, Degan is very aware of this, in the Italian team's three midfield, De Rossi's basic task is to defend and protect Pirlo, Marchisio is both offensive and defensive, and the forward Montolivo is hidden behind the two strikers.

Germany's midfield failed to dominate the confrontation, and Belgium had to do better, with Marouane Fellaini and Naeng having a heavy defensive task of keeping Montolivo and Andrea Pirlo at bay and making it dangerous to get the ball head-on, with Cassano's creativity and Balotelli's shot both set to play a huge role.

There is also the strengthening of physical confrontation, Balotelli is a very technical and physical striker, physically strong like Gomez and Ibrahimovic, the defenders who defend him must have the same body, Holmes and Bad Stuber of the German team did not succeed, Kompany is obviously much more successful in this regard.

Then there is to create offside, Pirlo and Montolivo's long pass is fatal, in the face of a single knife, Balotelli no longer thinks about life, Cassano is active on the side, Italy's actual striker only Balotelli is forward, making offside is a good choice, if it can succeed a few times, Balotelli will be impatient, it turns out that it is true, in the first half of the game, Balotelli has fallen into the offside trap of the Belgian team three times.

Offside is effective and dangerous, the backline must maintain a high degree of concentration, especially on the slightly slower Van Bitten side, can not be distracted by the defense of Cassano, if the offside, the full-back can not press in time is very dangerous, fortunately the experienced Van Bitten did not make a fatal mistake in the first half.

Of course, the bigger problem is Balotelli himself, after scoring two goals in the semi-finals, his popularity has skyrocketed, from a controversial player to a normal player, a terrifying goalscorer, AC Milan's general manager Galliani couldn't help but send a cheer: "I had a premonition that he would explode, I said earlier, Italy is different with him and without him, he can score more goals in the semi-finals, after the European Championship, he will go from a good player to a great rank, give him an adjective? Out of this world. ”

While congratulating the Italian team, they put on top hats to comment on who has more credit, Buffon said: "Balotelli has set sail, he has an innate infinite potential, this is the starting point of being ahead of others. ”

Prandelli said: "Balotelli is in great shape, he's done it all, we're happy, I'm giving him a 10 out of 10, I have a soft spot for crazy players? As long as you resonate with him, he is your winning weapon. ”

But it was clear that Balotelli was too happy too soon, and he even got a little carried away, so after the semi-finals, he arrogantly said that he would score four goals in the final, but in the first half, the Belgian snatched his beloved toy in an uncontroversial way.

Degan also used two goals to tell Balotelli that he was still just a small character in front of the football king.

After defending Balotelli, Belgium had to think about how to win the game, and the most effective way to do that was to strangle directly in midfield.

Italy have four midfielders, as do Belgium, but Digan often drops back, giving Belgium a partial numerical advantage.

As you can see from Germany's defeat, Italy's ability to control the midfield is quite strong, but the Belgian's technique is better than that of the German, and the battle for midfield has become the key to deciding the outcome of the game.

After the break, Poland replaced Cassano with Di Natale, who came on and got a chance immediately, 45 seconds into the second half, Maggio crossed from the right, Di Natale headed in front of goal, only to go slightly high and skim the crossbar.

The game then went into Belgian time once again, and in the 47th minute, Eden Hazard cut inside on the left and fired a low shot from the top of the box wide of the left post.

Just a minute later, Eden Hazard made a comeback, breaking through two shots from the right side of the penalty area in succession, which was blocked by Buffon on the ground.

In the 51st minute, Hazard went straight to the left side of the penalty area, and Digan was 10 meters in front of the goal, and his left-footed shot was saved by Buffon.

In the 58th minute, Balotelli finally got his first shot of the game on goal when he volleyed high from 24 yards out on the left.

Then Digan also made adjustments, replaced Drew with Dembele, continued to strengthen the offensive, in the 61st minute, Dembele sent a through pass after breaking the ball in the front, Digan successfully countered offside, burst into the penalty area, facing the attacking Buffon, his mind was surprisingly calm, in the process of high-speed dribbling, suddenly a push, although Buffon made a save, but Digan shot was too sudden, the football passed through Buffon's armpit, flew directly into the lower right corner of the goal, 3:0!

Hat-trick!

Degan's fifth hat-trick of the tournament!

"Unbelievable, that's all I can say about my excitement at the moment, the fifth hat-trick, Deegan did! He pulled off a miracle and he became the first player in the history of the European Championship to score five hat-tricks, which is insane! Digan conquered Italy alone! ”

After scoring the goal, Deegan also looked very excited, and the jersey on his body was ripped off by him, and he ran all the way on the field shirtless.

The rest of Belgium's players rushed in and tried to stop Digan, but Digan was too fast.

Prandelli watched from the sidelines, and couldn't help but lose his mind for a while, the game has been played for an hour, look at the Belgian players on the field, they are still alive, and the Italian players, one by one, seem to have reached the limit of physical fitness, this is the gap, this is the reason why Italy is suppressed.

Shaking his head and returning to the dugout, Prandelli knew that there was basically no hope in this game, and the Belgians, who were leading by three goals, would not leave Italy with any chances.