When Euro 2012 started 23 days ago, no one could have foreseen how this tournament could become such a great success. Just weeks before the tournament, Poland's opposition leader stated that he wanted the final moved to Warsaw due to Ukrainian officials' treatment of ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Stories of racism also filled the airwaves. Just before the opening match of the tournament, Dutch players weresubjected to racial taunts at the Netherlands' training center in Krakow, which cast a dark cloud over the opening match.
But it seems that those stories took place eons ago. After Robert Lewandowski scored the first goal of the tournament, football has thankfully remained front and center in these two former Communist states.
On the third day of the tournament, defending champion Spain started their attempt to remain champions of Europe by facing Italy in Gdańsk. Spain, who remained the juggernaut of the tournament in the first match, found themselves stopped by Italy in a 1-1 draw.
Using their classic defensive approach, Italy played a strong match. On a warm afternoon in northern Poland, Italy's three defenders stymied the attacking options of Spain.
Italy did this through a variety of different tactics. They applied more defensive pressure in their defending third, which was evident in Spain completing just 80 percent of their passes in that area, while they completed 92 percent of their attempts on the other two-thirds of the field.
The Italians' pressure allowed them to successfully complete all 15 tackles that they attempted, along with intercepting 35 passes. Those 35 interceptions of Spanish passes is the highest total registered by Italy in any of their five matches in the tournament.
Italy's defense was stupendous against Spain in their prior meeting.Michael Steele/Getty Images
Spain's quality has not been questioned much in recent years. After defeating Italy on penalties in the Euro 2008 quarterfinals, Spain have been on an unprecedented run that saw La Roja win their first European Championship in 48 years, along with the first World Cup in Spanish history.
Heading into this Euro, no one knew what to make of Spain. Already without two Barcelona superstars in David Villa and Carles Puyol due to injury and with reports of a divide in the Spanish camp, Spain were no longer considered to be the favorites to repeat as champions.
But Spain unified as a squad and have been superb since that 1-1 draw on June 10. After three wins in regular time and a victory on penalties against neighbor Portugal, Spain find themselves in the final.
What Italy did 21 days ago will be challenged in their first cup final in six years. After winning the 2006 World Cup, Italian football has not been the same since their title in Germany, with a failure to reach the knockout stage of the World Cup for the first time in 36 years the culmination in a dark six-year stretch.
The Azzuri have had a mini-Renaissance in this past month in their fifth straight European championship. Lead by Andrea Pirlo's creativity and masterful goalkeeping by Gianluigi Buffon, Italy reached their first Euro final in 12 years.
Both sides have put together impressive displays to reach the final. Here are the results of each match for the two finalists.
Spain
Spain 1 Italy 1 (June 10 - Gdańsk).
Fernando Torres had a brace against Ireland in the group stage.Alex Grimm/Getty Images
Spain 4 Republic of Ireland 0 (June 14 - Gdańsk).
Croatia 0 Spain 1 (June 18 - Gdańsk).
Spain 2 France 0 (June 23 - Donetsk).
Portugal 0 Spain 0 (Spain wins 4-2 on penalties). (June 27 - Donetsk).
Italy
Spain 1 Italy 1 (June 10 - Gdańsk).
Italy 1 Croatia 1 (June 14 - Poznań).
Italy 2 Republic of Ireland 0 (June 18 - Poznań).
England 0 Italy 0 (Italy wins 4-2 on penalties). (June 24 - Kiev).
Germany 1 italy 2 (June 28 - Warsaw).
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