Italy continued their good run in international football with a 1-0 victory over Wales in their final group stage match of the Euros 2020. With this win, Italy makes it 3/3 with victories over Turkey, Switzerland and Wales. They are through to the round of sixteen.
The Italians now have 11 wins in a row and haven’t conceded even one. They’ve scored 32 times across these 11 games and have kept a clean sheet in all of them. That’s quite an impressive record against tough opposition like- Estonia, Poland, Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria, Lithuania, San Marino, Czech Republic, Turkey, Switzerland, Wales.
The Italians made eight changes to the side but Roberto Mancini’s men still dominated against the Welsh. Wales also qualify for the round of sixteen having been placed 2nd in the group. Switzerland beat Turkey 3-1 in the game at Baku and can still qualify via the four best third-placed teams scheme.
Italy took the lead in the 42nd minute via a goal from Matteo Pessina as he steered in a free-kick from Marco Veratti into the corner. Wales found them in deeper problem when Chelsea youngster Ethan Ampadu got a red card and they were reduced to 10 men. Federico Chiesa got the man of the match award.
Italy took the lead in the 42nd minute via a goal from Matteo Pessina as he steered in a free-kick from Marco Veratti into the corner. Wales found them in deeper problem when Chelsea youngster Ethan Ampadu got a red card and they were reduced to 10 men. Federico Chiesa got the man of the match award.
“We knew it was going to be very difficult from the start, a lot of defending, a lot of running. We wanted to try and get a result, but I guess it makes no difference as we finished second anyway,” said Gareth Bale.
“The red card was unfortunate; we had to dig deep and make sure we didn’t concede as much as we could because the five-goal swing [with Switzerland] was still there. We have to recover now; we’ve got five day to patch everyone up and get going again,” Bale added.
