Italy will not make it easy for Spain in the last-16
Spain’s prospects of winning the European Championship for a third time in a row took a slight turn for the worst when they finished second in their group behind Croatia. A last group game defeat against the Croatians cost La Roja top spot and meant a last-16 clash with Italy.
Italy’s performances were unconvincing in qualifying and many expected the Azzurri to struggle in France in what was seen as a tough group alongside Belgium, Sweden and the Republic of Ireland.
However, wins in their opening two group games against the highly-rated Belgians and poor Swedes meant that Conte’s team won the group with a game to spare.
Conte has done a fine job with the Azzurri, as unlike many Italian national team bosses he seems to have a dearth of star players to choose from. He decided to leave the likes of Sebastian Giovinco and Andrea Pirlo out of his squad, but the squad that has travelled to France has done their nation proud so far.
The game against Spain is unlikely to faze the Italian players, most of whom are highly-experienced and have played at the top level of football.
Spain are European champions, but they tend to struggle against teams that restrict their space and play 3-5-2 formations, which is Italy’s formation of choice at Euro 2016.
Spain do possess some fine players, but Italy’s stubborn and resilient defence will offer major resistance to the likes of Alvaro Morata, David Silva and Nolito, whether it will be enough to see the Azzurri through to the quarter-finals remains to be seen though.
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