Euro 2020 Round Of 16 Preview, Italy Vs Austria: Who Will Advance?

Italy's striker Lorenzo Insigne (right) trains with his teammates for the Euro 2020 match at the Acqua Acetosa Training Center, Rome, Italy, on June 19, 2021 (ANTARA/REUTERS/ALBERTO LINGRIA)

JAKARTA - If you look at the record of the meeting between the two countries, Austria should not be blinded by Italy, whose journey to the last 16 was smoother than them, also in qualifying. However, the outcome of the match is not easy to predict.

In 36 meetings between the two countries, Austria has beaten Italy 12 times. But those victories happened a long time ago before December 1960. After 1960, Italy had always won matches between them, including in the four World Cup finals, as reported by Antara.

For the Euro round itself, the two teams have met for the first time. Italy is more favored to win, but nothing is impossible in football, even though beating Italy this era is a very difficult task, including for Austrian mainstay David Alaba who despite his original position as a doorstop but an expert in piercing the opponent's defense.

The tough line of defense has become common knowledge throughout the tournament. Never conceded in three group stage matches, conversely conceding seven times against opponents. In those three matches, Italy only received 12 opponent kicks, none of which was on target.

But the story of Italy's toughness has been known from time to time, since the famous catenaccio of the 1960s and 1970s, and this has frightened his opponents. Now, this defense is also a very dominant factor in Italy.

Not only in the finals, in the last 11 matches in all competitions, they have consistently kept a clean sheet or not conceded a goal. The last time their goal was breached was by Donny van de Beek in October 2020. After 1,055 minutes or 17 hours 35 minutes of play, the Azzurrii's goal could not be touched by the opponent.

If Austria also cannot break into Italy in the last 16 at Wembley Stadium, London, Sunday morning at 02.00 WIB, then Italy will repeat the fantastic record of 12 matches without conceding as created in the period 1972 to 1974.

His goalkeeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma, also has the chance to break Walter Zenga's record, who ranks second for the longest time without conceding a goal, for 936 minutes. If this is solved, then the next Donnarumma could break the record of 1,143 minutes without conceding held by Dino Zoff which is Italy's all-time record.

If for Italy this match is also about records that are trying to be broken, in addition to the ambition of winning Europe for the second time, then for Austria what is important is to maintain good momentum, without being blinded by Italy's achievements.

Underdog Team

Austria has only recently qualified for the knockout phase of the Euro finals, despite having done so at the 1954 World Cup. "We are the underdogs," admitted Austrian coach Franco Foda. However, no matter how small the opportunity will be maximized by Austria in order to reverse the underdog position.

Foda promised not to order his players to back down to protect his defenses. "Italy will respect us and they will also see that we can be aggressive," Foda promised.

“Our team has achieved great things so far by qualifying for the knockout stages. Now we are in the last 16 and we want to do everything to take the next step to Munich (quarter-finals)," said Foda.

Prediction of the first eleven players

Italy (4-3-3): Gianluigi Donnarumma; Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Leonardo Bonucci, Alessandro Bastoni, Leonardo Spinazzola; Nicolo Barella, Jorginho, Marco Verratti; Domenico Berardi, Ciro Immobile, Lorenzo Insigne

Austria (4-2-3-1): Daniel Bachmann; Stefan Lainer, Aleksandar Dragovic, Martin Hinteregger, David Alaba; Xaver Schlager, Florian Grillitsch; Konrad Laimer, Marcel Sabitzer, Cristoph Baumgartner; Marco Arnautovic

Match scenario

Roberto Mancini is still without captain Giorgio Chiellini due to a hamstring problem. Likewise Alessandro Florenzi who is also injured. Italy is expected to use a 4-3-3 formation with Gianluigi Donnarumma keeping goal.

Giovanni Di Lorenzo is back in the full-back duo alongside right-back Leonardo Spinazzola, while Leonardo Bonucci partnered Alessandro Bastoni at the heart of the Azzurri defence.

Jorginho will be the core of the three midfielders plotted to control the midfield with Nicolo Barella who is more helpful in attack and Marco Verratti or maybe Manuel Locatelli as a third midfielder.

Ciro Immobile is expected to be one of the attacking trio who are more in the heart of the Austrian defence, which will be flanked by Lorenzo Insigne and Domenico Berardi on both wings of attack.

Meanwhile, Austria was worried that Christoph Baumgartner and Julian Baumgartlinger could not be strengthened due to injury problems, but both players finally declared that they were ready to play against Italy, along with Martin Hinteregger and Florian Grillitsch. But Valentino Lazaro may be absent because of a thigh injury.

Manager Franco Foda will again set up the 4-2-3-1 formation that earned them a win against Ukraine. To that end, Daniel Bachmann is still guarding goal which will be protected by the center back duo Hinteregger and Aleksandar Dragovic, while Stefan Lainer and captain David Alaba operate on the flanks, as right back and left back, respectively.

Xaver Schlager became the anchor in the middle to balance Italy's superiority in this area. He will be accompanied by Grillitsch to ward off Nicolo Barella and Marco Verratti. Meanwhile, Marcel Sabitzer will be more forward-oriented to support the attack.

Konrad Laimer and Baumgartner would fill the two attacking flanks to open up space and pass the ball to Marko Arnautovic's lone spearhead.

Important statistics for both teams

Italy advanced to the last 16 having won all three of their Group A matches, while Austria finished runners up in Group C having won twice and lost once.

The winner of this match will face either Belgium or defending champions Portugal in the quarter-finals in Munich, Germany, on 2 July.

Austria won 12 of their previous 36 meetings with Italy, but most of that happened a long time ago because since winning a friendly at Napoli in December 1960, Austria had never been able to beat Italy.

This is their first meeting in a European Cup final, but the two teams have met in four World Cup finals, all of which Italy won, including the 1934 World Cup semi-final.

This is Italy's tenth Euro finals and seventh in a row since failing at Euro 1992 in Sweden. Italy won the European Cup in 1968 and was runners-up twice in 2000 and 2012.

Roberto Mancini's side won all 10 of their Euro 2020 qualifiers. But among the teams that have won all of their qualifying matches in the last six editions, only Spain went on to win in 2012.

For Austria this is their third Euro finals, all of which have occurred in the last 13 years. In the first two participations Austria never won. But after two wins in the 2020 group stage, Austria's record improved to 2 wins, 2 draws and 5 losses.

Austria's best finish in a major tournament was third place at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland. The last time they qualified for the World Cup was in 1998 in France.