Coach Roberto Mancini expressed
satisfaction that his squad had proven its strength in depth,
with a side featuring eight changes beating Wales 1-0 in Rome on
Sunday to put Italy in the last-16 of Euro 2020 with a perfect
record of three wins out of three games in Group A.
Matteo Pessina's first half-goal extended the Azzurri's winning
streak to 11 matches and enabled them to equal the unbeaten
record achieved by Vittorio Pozzo's team, who avoided defeat for
30 consecutive matches and won two World Cups in the 1930s.
Italy will now face Ukraine or Austria at Wembley on Saturday 26
June.
"We couldn't have done better, although we could have scored
more" said Mancini, whose team was already sure of making the
knockout stage of the tournament before the Wales clash. "
"The lads did really well. Even when we make changes, nothing
should change: the players know what they have to do.
"We showed that everyone is a starter.
"There would have been a lot of new faces on the pitch even if
the match had been a decisive one because we needed to give
everyone playing time and bring in fresh energy.
"It's unfortunate when players miss out, but being able to count
on everyone is important".
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