Italy vs Austria: Can Azzurri continue to impress at Euro 2020?

Michael Graham
25 June 2021

Italy are looking the real deal as they booked their place in the last 16 of Euro 2020 with a 2-0 win over Switzerland

Italy look like they are going to take some stopping at Euro 2020. Are Austria up to the task after an unconvincing group campaign?

When: Tuesday June 26, 20:00 BST

Where: London

How to watch: BBC

Best bets

Italy to win to nil at 23/20

Italy to win by three-goal margin at 6/1

Manuel Locatelli to score anytime at 7/2

The Euro 2020 knockout stages continue when the mightily impressive Italy face Austria at Wembley.

Italy come into the round of 16 with a perfect record of three wins out of three without even conceding a goal.

The Azzurri will start as strong favourites against Austria who, despite winning two of their three group matches, did not do an awful lot to impress.

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Euro 2020 form

Italy

Turkey 0-3 Italy

Italy 3-0 Switzerland

Italy 1-0 Wales

Italy boss, Roberto Mancini

Italy went a little under the radar when it came to pre-tournament favourites, although they have certainly got everyone's attention now.

It is not just their results that have stood out, but their performances too with Roberto Mancini moulding his talented squad into a vibrant attacking unit whilst still maintaining the traditional Italian steel in defence.

Austria

Austria 3-1 North Macedonia

Netherlands 2-0 Austria

Ukraine 0-1 Austria

Austria leave it late to clinch hard-fought victory over North Macedonia

Oddly, Austria have perhaps been one of the most unconvincing teams in the group stage of the competition even though they eased through.

Against North Macedonia they needed a late rally to start with a win against the minnows, and they edged a nervy clash against the Ukraine, although it likely could have gone either way.

Exciting Italians

Italy failed to make it to the World Cup three years ago, and at that time they looked like a football nation in a crisis for which there were no easy fixes.

However, they have seriously caught the eye in Euro 2020, mainly due to the quite un-Italian way they have been going about things.

Italy's Andrea Belotti

Traditionally Italy get to tournaments and shut-up-shop and basically try to bore the opposition into submission.

That has been far from the case this time, though, with their attacking talents given licence to shine.

Italy squad

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Alex Meret, Salvatore Sirigu

Defenders: Francesco Acerbi, Alessandro Bastoni, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Emerson, Alessandro Florenzi, Leonardo Spinazzola, Rafael Toloi

Midfielders: Nicolo Barella, Bryan Cristante, Jorginho, Manuel Locatelli, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Stefano Sensi, Marco Verratti

Forwards: Andrea Belotti, Domenico Berardi, Federico Bernardeschi, Federico Chiesa, Ciro Immobile, Lorenzo Insigne, Giacomo Raspadori

Austria relying on Alaba

Austria's biggest strength can also be their biggest weakness: They have one world class player and don't know what they want to do with him.

So far David Alaba has played about four different positions in three matches, which suggests the manager doesn't really have much of a plan for his side to assert themselves on the opposition.

Austria's David Alaba

When your plan is to move your star man around the pitch reactively, it's pretty clear that you are not doing anything proactive to win the match.

Where Alaba plays on Saturday is unknown, but wherever he is deployed they are going to need him at his very best.

Austria squad

Goalkeepers: Daniel Bachmann, Pavao Pervan, Alexander Schlager

Defenders: David Alaba, Aleksandar Dragovic, Marco Friedl, Martin Hinteregger, Stefan Lainer, Philipp Lienhart, Stefan Posch, Christopher Trimmel, Andreas Ulmer

Midfielders: Julian Baumgartlinger, Christoph Baumgartner, Florian Grillitsch, Stefan Ilsanker, Konrad Laimer, Valentino Lazaro, Marcel Sabitzer, Louis Schaub, Xaver Schlager, Alessandro Schopf

Forwards: Marko Arnautovic, Michael Gregoritsch, Sasa Kalajdzic, Karim Onisiwo

International head-to-head

Italy wins: 16

Draws: 8

Austria wins: 11

Goalscorer bets

One of the most impressive things about Italy has been how they are sharing the goals around their team.

Ciro Immobile has scored in both matches he has started, while four other Italians have also found the net.

Ciro Immobile celebrates for Italy

One of them is Lorenzo Insigne, and he seems good value to score the first goal at 4/1. Manuel Locatelli proved his goalscoring prowess with two goals against Switzerland too, and he can be backed at 7/2 to score anytime.

If Austria are going to get something from the game, then David Alaba will be key. He's not known for his goalscoring, but he is a good punt at 17/2 to score anytime.