Chiellini’s long throw was headed on by Simone Zaza and gathered by Eder, who jinked inside, gliding past three Swedish defenders before lashing a shot into the net.
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Now with six points, it is assured of a spot in the next round no matter what happens in the team’s final Group E match against Ireland on Wednesday in Lille.
As often happens, Italy went into a major tournament amid media criticism, which Conte believes they have now answered with the wins over Belgium (2-0) and Sweden. They’ll play second-place Croatia on Tuesday.
– Emanuele Giaccherini, loitering just outside the box on the left, curled in a attractive ball to the far post in the 82nd minute, and Marco Parolo planted a close-range header against the top of the bar.
“Zlatan is one of the greatest forwards I’ve ever encountered”, said Sweden coach Erik Hamren. After players such as Kevin de Bruyne and captain Eden Hazard failed to shine against Italy, a convincing win against Sweden would help ease fears that team has underachieved.
“We had a drop in concentration but we defended well against Italy, in the last 20 minutes we didn’t resist enough and we didn’t create the plays we needed”.
“It wasn’t a lovely game, from neither of the teams, but we, as Italy, got what we wanted to get, the 3 points”.
Sweden created the best chance of the game in the 73rd minute when Martin Olsson crossed from the left, Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed the target from close range. “Very few people would have envisaged us being through after two matches – a lot of people did not think we would get out of the group”. They were given hope after just two minutes when Ibrahimovic rose to meet a high cross, but Giorgio Chiellini cleared with his head.
However, the opening 45 minutes were as uneventful as has been seen all tournament with no saves or shots of note being registered by either side as defences remained on top. “We have 9,000 fans here but they looked quite dispersed”.
“We need to do the same defensive work like we did today, but we need to be better in attack if we are going to win the game”, he added.
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“First and foremost I am pleased for all my teammates and the entire squad because I know how hard we have worked for the European Championships”.
