The Azzurri, now unbeaten in 29 matches and having won their last 10 games without conceding a goal, sit first in Group A and are guaranteed a top-two finish and last-16 berth. “We played well, we wanted to win at all costs,” Italy coach Roberto Mancini told RAI.
“They started well, it was not easy to win a second game in
five days.”
Mancini’s men, looking to win Italy a second European title
after their sole success in 1968, host Wales in their final group game on
Sunday, with top spot up for grabs.
A new star shone for Italy at the Stadio Olimpico, where
they had brushed aside Turkey 3-0 in the tournament’s opening match last week,
as Sassuolo’s Locatelli scored twice before Ciro Immobile’s late third.
Captain Giorgio Chiellini had an early effort ruled out by VAR
for handball, before the 36-year-old defender was forced off with what appeared
to be a thigh injury.
But the hosts always looked the more dangerous side and took
the lead in the 26th minute.
Locatelli played a wonderful volleyed pass to his Sassuolo
teammate Domenico Berardi on the wing, who powered to the byline and picked out
Locatelli for a simple tap-in.
The three points and a place in the knockout phase for the
fourth straight European Championship were all but secured less than seven
minutes after the interval, when a flowing move ended with Locatelli driving a
left-footed shot into the bottom corner from outside the box.
Immobile had wasted a couple of earlier chances but did grab
his second goal of the tournament in the 89th minute, curling a low effort past
Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
Switzerland will now likely have to beat Turkey in Baku on
Sunday to reach the next round.
Impressive Wales see off Turkey
After drawing 1-1 with the Swiss in their opening Group A
game, Wales now have four points from two matches after goals from Aaron Ramsey
and Connor Roberts saw off a disappointing Turkey 2-0.
“You’d like to think so, but we’ll have to wait and see,”
said Wales captain Gareth Bale when asked if his team had done enough to get
through.
“If you’d offered us four points at the start we would’ve
bitten your hand off.”
Senol Gunes’ side, roared on by the majority of the crowd in
Azerbaijan, have lost both of their games without scoring and face a mountain
to climb if they are to qualify.
Wales, semi-finalists five years ago, should have won more
convincingly, but wasted several chances including a second-half penalty which
was blazed over by Bale.
Up to 4,000 Turkish fans travelled for the game, including
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but Wales immediately were on the front foot
and Ramsey wasted two excellent chances early on.
He made no mistake three minutes before the break, though,
chesting down Bale’s pass and slotting home.
Bale, whose future at Real Madrid is uncertain, won a penalty
just after the hour mark but was uncharacteristically wayward from the spot.
Robert Page’s Wales grabbed the second goal their
performance deserved in stoppage time, as Bale danced through and teed up
Roberts to sweep into the net.
In the first match of the day, Russia defeated neighbours
Finland 1-0 in Saint Petersburg courtesy of Aleksei Miranchuk’s goal just
before half-time to pick up their first points in Group B.
It blows open the section after Russia lost 3-0 to Belgium
in their opening game at the weekend. Finland had beaten Denmark 1-0 in
Copenhagen on Saturday, a game completely overshadowed by Christian Eriksen’s
cardiac arrest.
Belgium to make Eriksen gesture
On Thursday, Belgium could all but confirm their spot in the
last 16 when they take on Denmark in Copenhagen.
The game will be the Danes’ first since Eriksen had to be
revived on the pitch at the Parken Stadium against Finland on Saturday.
The players and crowd, with up to 25,000 fans allowed to
attend, will pay tribute to the Inter Milan player with a minute’s applause in
the 10th minute.
“Several of our players have played with him,” said
Eriksen’s Inter Milan teammate and Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku, who added
that the players would kick the ball out of play in the 10th minute.
“But tomorrow we’ll be there to win the game, which promises
to be difficult.”
Depending on the result of the first game of the day between
Ukraine and North Macedonia in Group C, the Netherlands could qualify with a
victory over Austria in Amsterdam.
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