ROBERTO JIMENEZ GAGO

It was a disaster for soccer in Italy when the national team missed out on the last World Cup.

Europe's soccer champions have returned home to the ecstatic cheers of Italians.

The European Championship final between Italy and England at Wembley Stadium on Sunday has all the makings of a tight and tense title match.

Substitutes Federico Chiesa and Matteo Pessina scored in extra time to help Italy beat Austria 2-1 and advance to the quarterfinals of the European Championship.

Italy's transformation from a team that failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup into an attack-minded juggernaut can be traced back to Serie A teams like Atalanta and Sassuolo.

Italy matched a team-record 30-match unbeaten streak by beating Wales 1-0 at the European Championship.

Italy is requiring persons who arrive from Britain to do five days of quarantine as well as take a COVID-19 swab test.

Manuel Locatelli is finally living up to his promise as Italy's next great midfielder.

The trend of removing sponsor bottles at European Championship news conferences was started by Cristiano Ronaldo.

The biggest sporting event since the coronavirus brought the world to a halt has kicked off at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Brazil’s international players have been reluctant to play in the Copa America.

Italy will play Turkey in the opening game of the European Championship on Friday.

The European Championship is the first major international soccer tournament to take place since the coronavirus outbreak and arrives at the end of the most condensed club season in history.

(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)BARCELONA Karim Benzema helped Real Madrid move one step closer to dethroning Lionel Messis Barcelona on Friday. Benzema scored one goal and set up another to lead Madrid to beating Alavs 2-0 and restoring a four-point lead over Barcelona in the Spanish league with only three rounds left. Benzema scored a penalty kick in the 11th minute and assisted Marco Asensio in the 50th to ensure an eighth straight victory since La Liga resumed play after stopping for three months due to the pandemic. His 18th league goal of the season is second only to Messis 22. Madrid took full control just after halftime when Benzema broke Alavs offside trap to reach Rodrygos through-ball.