Insigne ends De Gea’s unbeaten run

MILAN — Italy forward Lorenzo Insigne ended David De Gea’s sixgame unbeaten run in the Spain goal in a 1-1 friendly draw on Thursday that gave Azzurri fans hope for this summer’s Euro 2016 in France.

Spain, who thrashed Italy 4-0 in the final of the 2012 European Championships, were on a sevengame winning run that had seen Manchester United ‘keeper De Gea keep a clean sheet in their last six outings.

But Vicente Del Bosque’s men were sorely lacking creativity and failed to produce a single shot on goal in the opening half of a game for the first time since meeting Belarus in a World Cup qualifier in 2013.

Italy coach Antonio Conte had deployed a largely experimental 3-4-3 but after some early teething problems the 46-year-old coach, who will quit after this summer’s showpiece in France, must have been buoyed.

Insigne replaced Inter Milan striker Eder shortly after the restart and finished off a great move to toe poke past De Gea on 67 minutes, although Italy’s joy was short-lived. Only three minutes later 35-year- old Athletic Bilbao striker Aduriz slammed the ball into the roof of the net from a yard out when Gianluigi Buffon spilled Juventus teammate Alvaro Morata’s header from a free kick.

Conte said: “I’m very satisfied with the lads’ performance, especially as we changed the tactical formation.

“They put into practice a lot of the things we worked on in recent days. I don’t want to talk about objectives for the Euro 2016. All we want to do is give it everything we have, and above all not to leave the pitch with any regrets.”