London: Matteo Pessina and Federico Chiesa’s injury-time goals set up Italy for the quarterfinals as they beat Austria 2-1 in the Euro 2020 Round of 16 on Sunday. Elsewhere, Denmark put a stunning performance to crush Wales 4-0 and join Italy in the next round.
Italy will face the winner of the Belgium-Portugal encounter on July 2 while either the Netherlands or the Czech Republic awaits in front of Denmark on July 3. All eyes were on Italy on Sunday considering their form from the round-robin stages.
But the task was tough for Roberta Mancini’s men against a comparatively weaker Austria, held the super Azzuris till 90 minutes. Federico Chiesa broke the deadlock on 95 minutes before Pessina doubled the lead 10 minutes later.
Sasa Kalajdzic pulled one back for Austria on the 114th minute, ending Italy’s tally of 1168 minutes without conceding, but that wasn’t enough to stop Italy’s 29-game unbeaten streak. Marko Arnautovic and Stefan Lainer did find the net for Austria but were ruled offside by the VAR.
Meanwhile, Denmark still hit by Christian Eriksen’s collapse produced a brilliant performance to advance to the quarterfinals. Kasper Dolberg (27th, 48th) scored a brace while Joakim Maehle (88th) and Martin Braithwaite (90+4) contributing to Denmark’s good run in the competition.
