There must be a tough game tonight.
- Italy will be through if they win their third meeting with Sweden at a EURO finals
- The Azzurri top Group E after beating Belgium 2-0; Sweden drew 1-1 with Ireland
- The Blågult helped eliminate Italy in 2004 when Zlatan Ibrahimović struck in a 1-1 draw
- The Azzurri won 2-1 in their group stage contest at UEFA EURO 2000
- Also in Group E: Belgium v Republic of Ireland (15.00CET Saturday, Bordeaux)
Live result :
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Possible line-ups
Italy: Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; Candreva, Florenzi, De Rossi, Giaccherini, De Sciglio; Pellè, Éder.
Yellow card away from suspension: Bonucci, Chiellini, Éder, Thiago Motta
Sweden: Isaksson; Lindelöf, Granqvist, Johansson, Olsson; Larsson, Ekdal, Källström, Forsberg; Guidetti, Ibrahimović.
Out: Lustig (groin)
Yellow card away from suspension: Lindelöf
Coach quotes
Antonio Conte, Italy
I think I have a group of lads who are very focused and determined, and who take pride in doing things well. I’m certain that one single game will not change the attitude of these lads. I’m convinced of this. It was a good performance against Belgium and we made the best start to UEFA EURO 2016, but we’ve not done anything yet, nor have we already qualified for the last 16, which is our first objective. We have our feet firmly on the ground, preparing for tomorrow’s game and looking for the win.
We’re seeing some really, really tight games to be honest and you can see that every game is very, very difficult – look at France yesterday, they only went ahead against Albania in the 90th minute and added a second in the 96th. The games are going down to the wire and we’ve got to be very well prepared. We just have to concentrate on what we are doing, what we have to do, who we have to face and their strengths and weaknesses. We’ve got to give the best we can to reach our first objective, which is the last 16.
We’ve got to attack them as a team. In defence the problem is not only Ibrahimović, it could also be Forsberg or Guidetti; it could be their set pieces or various things we have to analyse. When we analyse our opponents, we look at them first as a team then break them down into individuals and try to highlight their deficiencies.
Erik Hamrén, Sweden
Italy perhaps don’t have the big stars they used to, but they are still very strong. They are very good in defence and in attack and they were impressive against Belgium. They are going to be a tough challenge for us, but we’re looking forward to it. Anything is possible in football.
We have to get more right than we get wrong, for sure. It’s wrong to focus on what you shouldn’t do, you need to focus on what you can do as a team. We need to be very effective. We probably won’t get many chances so we have to take what we get. We expect Italy to have more of the possession. We are going to have to run a lot, but we need to use our heads too.
I doubt Mikael Lustig will play again in the group stage. If we go through, then maybe he will play again, but that is the way things stand right now. We’ve managed setbacks before, but now we must just continue and focus on the next game. Since Tuesday we’ve just focused on Italy. The morale was a bit down on Tuesday evening, but we were fully focused from Wednesday.