Italy‘s win today means they go into the knockout roudns as Group A winners, while Wales have just snuck through on goal difference.
The Azzurri made eight changes for today’s match, but that didn’t affect their way of playing.
Italy were not overly forced to chase the win, knowing that one point would be enough to see them through as group winners, but the selected players didn’t let anyone down.
We dominated much of the game, as we did in both previous matches of the tournament, and our defence was on point once again also.
Our attacking players may have been trying a little too hard as they struggled initially to get a lot of their chances on target, but we always looked the more likely to score.
The goal finally came five minutes before the interval, when Marco Verratti’s free kick ws clipped on by Pessina, and the Welsh goalkeeper was unable to change direction quickly enough to deny the goal.
The Welsh tried their best to get back on terms, but they simply could not get the better of our solid defence, and their bid took a huge blow when Ethan Ampadu got himself a red card for stamping on Juve’s Bernadeschi.
Mancini opted to bring on more of the unplayed squad members in the final 20 minutes, with Donnarumma even coming off for Sirigu, but that didn’t deter our side from closing out the win, and the clean sheet.
Verratti and Bernadeschi may have given the manager something to think about going into the knockout rounds, but I would think that the former is the most likely to break into the team going forwards.
Did anyone else impress enough to challenge for a starting place?
Patrick
