PARIS: A mouth-watering clash of styles between holders Spain and familiar foes Italy on Monday for a place in the Euro 2016 quarter-finals is a tough one to call after mixed performances from both sides in the group stage.

Spain, who cruised to a 4-0 victory over Italy in the Euro 2012 final in Kiev, started their bid for an unprecedented third consecutive European Championship in promising fashion before a 2-1 defeat by Croatia meant they must now take on their old rivals in the last 16.

Italy, relying on a bunch of veterans with no real top name in their squad apart from goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, had been written off by many and left for the tournament in an atmosphere of doom and gloom.

With solid defence and efficient offence, the Azzurri surprised observers with an opening 2-0 win over fancied Belgium and went on to beat Sweden 1-0 before they lost to Ireland 1-0 in the final group game after resting many regular starters.

And for the first time in quite a while, Spain won’t be the obvious favourites when they play Italy at Stade de France in one of the most anticipated matches of the round-of-16.

“Spain have been our nemesis since 2008, which is when the period of their golden era started,” said Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini, referring to a defeat on penalties in the quarter-finals of the European championship that year, which the Spaniards went on to win.

Before that match in Vienna, Spain suffered an inferiority complex with Italy — having never beaten them in five tries at major finals.

After winning the World Cup in 2010, Spain had to face Italy twice more in retaining the Euros four years ago. A 1-1 draw in the opening match was long forgotten as Vicente del Bosque’s men thrashed Italy in the final.

La Roja then also won another shootout between the two in the Confederations Cup semi-finals in 2013. Indeed, the European champions have lost just one of their last 11 meetings with Italy — a 2-1 friendly defeat in 2011.

“I like the word ‘revenge,’ but more than the word, we need to put it into practice,” Chiellini, the leader of an Italian defence widely regarded as the best in the competition, said.

But he is hopeful Italy can reve­rse their recent run against Spain.

“Let’s keep things in perspective. The Ireland match, with all respect to them, didn’t really count for us,” Chiellini said. “And if we play to our potential, give it everything and limit them where they are strong, I think we can create something special.”

Spain, whose dominance of the game looked to be coming to an end when they made a shock group-stage exit from the 2014 World Cup, are still the masters of possession, relying on their trademark, tiki-taka style based on short passing and movement.

Their defence, however, can show signs of nerves under pressure and they lack ruthlessness up front, even if they do have a dangerous marksman in Alvaro Morata, who has scored three goals to top the scorers’ table alongside Gareth Bale of Wales.

“I wish him well for the rest of his career but I hope he has a bad match on Monday,” joked Chiellini about his former Juventus team-mate Morata, who Real Madrid exercised a buyback clause on last week.

“He’s a special kind of guy and a player who, as well as having great skills, is only going to get better.”

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2016