Italy break Austria hearts in extra time

 

On Saturday night, Italy joined Denmark into the Quarter Finals of Euro 2020 by beating Austria 2-1 after extra time at Wembley.

Earlier in the day, Denmark thrashed Wales 4-0 at the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam. Two goals from Kasper Dolberg either side of the half was followed by two late goals by Joakim Mæhle and Martin Braithwaite which capped off a fantastic evening for the Danes.

However the highlight of the day came from Wembley as Italy took on Austria. The Italians had topped their Group with three wins and hadn't conceded a goal in their last 11 games. As for Austria these was their first knockout appearance at the Euros.

After a largely dominated first half from Italy, Austria came back strong into the second half. They had a goal ruled out for Offside in the 65th minute by VAR as Marko Arnautovic was found to be in an offside position when he headed in a cross from David Alaba.

With the scores level at 0-0 after 90 minutes, extra time was required. 

The substitutions made by Roberto Mancini paid off as substitutes Federico Chiesa and Matteo Pessina found the net in the first half of extra time. Chiesa  got into a good space, controlled the ball down with his right foot and lashed the ball on a half volley through his left foot in the 95th minute.

Pessina doubled the Italians lead just before the break as he took advantage of a real scramble in the Austria box to fire it home into the bottom corner in the 105th minute.

A 2-0 Scoreline would have proved harsh on Austria as they had played really brillant in the second half despite being the underdogs. They made the game interesting in the 114th minute as substitute Sasa Kalajdzic sneaked up a header near post which found its way in.

The goal meant that Italy had conceded a goal for the first time in 1,168 minutes. The win also set a new national record as Italy extended their Unbeaten run to 31 games breaking the previous record of 30 set under Vittorio Pozzo between 1935 to 1939.

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