EURO 2020: Italy edges past Belgium 2-1 to set up Spain semifinal

Goals from Nicolo Barella and Lorenzo Insigne guided Italy to a 2-1 victory over Belgium in the second quarterfinal of EURO 2020 at the Allianz Arena.

Italian players celebrate Nicolo Barella's goal against Belgium during their EURO 2020 quarterfinal game in Munich on Friday.

Italy set up a Euro 2020 semifinal clash against Spain after first half goals from Nicolo Barella and Lorenzo Insigne led the Azzurri to a 2-1 win over Belgium on Friday in an entertaining encounter in which both sides created a number of chances.

Italy -- which will face the Spaniards on Tuesday in London -- opened the scoring in the 31st minute when Barella picked up the ball, forced his way past defenders in the area and fired home.

MATCH BLOG |

Insigne doubled the lead in the 44th minute after collecting the ball on the left and skipping beyond a defender before unleashing a long-range shot that flew past Thibaut Courtois.

Romelu Lukaku clawed a goal back for Belgium from the penalty spot just before the break after Giovanni Di Lorenzo put an arm on Jeremy Doku and pushed him to the ground.

Earlier, Spain had squeezed past Switzerland 3-1 in a penalty shootout to reach the last four after its battling opponent clung to a 1-1 draw after extra time despite going down to 10 men.