DOMENICO BERARDI showed no mercy as he wasted time against Belgium by ruthlessly charging down a late free-kick.
And football fans flocked to Twitter to hail the Italian’s ‘amazing s***housery’.
A thrilling game at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena saw Roberto Mancini’s men book their place in the Euro 2020 semis with a 2-1 win.
Goals from Nicolo Barella and Lorenzo Insigne sealed a famous victory for Italy, although they were forced to defend for most of the second half after Romelu Lukaku’s penalty gave Belgium a lifeline.
Mancini’s no-nonsense side scrapped for every ball and metre of space on the field as their impressive tournament run continued.
But it was Berardi’s actions late on that caught the attention of viewers.
With time ticking down, Belgium won a deep indirect free-kick.
They sent just about every player into Italy’s box as set-piece specialist Kevin De Bruyne stood over the ball.
However, Berardi looked to be much closer than ten yards as he formed a one-man wall.
And as De Bruyne launched the ball into the air, the Sassuolo forward charged ahead to block the effort.
It worked perfectly, with the ball hitting him no more than six yards away, helping to wind down the clock as Italy made another substitution to take the sting out of Belgium.
And after the final whistle was blown, football fans had their say on social media.
One said: “I don’t think Berardi was ten yards from the ball for that free kick…”
Another wrote: “Pure s***housery, loved it.”
One noted: “The Berardi incident was epitome. Killed about two mins when Mancini added a sub on the end.”
Another tweeted: “That De Bruyne free kick was entering the net!”
One added: “I hate that Berardi free kick jump thing too. So blatant and annoying.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
