Football NewsEuro 2020: Italy Vs Austria – Match preview
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Italy’s 1-0 win over Wales to round off their group stage saw the ’Azzurri’ equal their longest ever unbeaten run of 30 straight games, a record dating back to the late 1930s.

Italy

In great shape after becoming the first team in history to win all three group matches without conceding a single goal at the European Championships, Italy head to Wembley for the Round of 16 and their first game of these championships outside Rome. Their 1-0 win over Wales to round off their group stage saw the ’Azzurri’ equal their longest ever unbeaten run of 30 straight games, a record dating back to the late 1930s. Roberto Mancini’s men have also now won eleven consecutive matches ’to-nil’, and another clean sheet here would see them match their all-time longest clean-sheet run (12) between 1972 and 1974. Italy have faced only two other countries (France, Switzerland) more often in history than Austria, including four encounters at the World Cup, with Italy unbeaten in the last 13 H2Hs since 1960.

Austria

A narrow 1-0 victory over Ukraine saw Marco Foda’s Austria progress to the knockout stages of the European Championship for the first time in three appearances. The last time they entered this phase of any major tournament was the 1954 World Cup, where they surprised to reach the semi-finals, although they’ve yet to beat a top-20 ranked nation at the Euros – failing to score in 75 per cent of those. ‘Das Team’ will look to replicate their good start from their last outing, which was only the second of their last seven matches to see Austria opening the scoring, although both have come here at Euro 2020.

 

Ciro Immobile has found the net in each of his last three appearances for Italy; six of his previous eight competitive goals have arrived beyond the hour mark, including both at Euro 2020. Conversely, six of Christoph Baumgartner’s last seven competitive goals have arrived before HT, including the crucial strike last time out against Ukraine.

 

Half (seven) of Italy’s 14 knockout stage games in the European Championship have ended in a draw after 90 minutes.