Italy have dominated the first half of their Euro 2020 Round of 16 with Austria, hitting the woodwork with Ciro Immobile and forcing saves, but it’s still goalless at the break at Wembley.
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The Azzurri went into this Round of 16 tie at Wembley Stadium unbeaten in a joint-record 30 games, with 11 consecutive victories accompanied by clean sheets. Giorgio Chiellini and Alessandro Florenzi were injured, so Francesco Acerbi and Giovanni Di Lorenzo stepped in, with Marco Verratti preferred to Manuel Locatelli. Austria qualified by beating North Macedonia and Ukraine in the group phase, reaching the knockouts for the first time in a major tournament since 1982.
Although it was Italy’s first game outside Rome, it felt like a home fixture, with most of the 22,000 locals supporting the Azzurri.
Lorenzo Insigne’s right-foot curler was well smothered, but Bachmann had to use his legs to parry a Nicolò Barella strike off the outside of the boot, while Marko Arnautovic blazed over the bar.
Ciro Immobile thought he’d scored on 32 minutes, but his swerving stunner from 20 metres out cracked against the far top corner of the crossbar.
Bachmann also had to palm a Leonardo Spinazzola effort round the base of the upright, as Italy dominated the first half, but were unable to find the breakthrough.
Italy 0-0 Austria (Half-Time)
Italy: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Acerbi, Bonucci, Spinazzola; Barella, Jorginho, Verratti; Berardi, Immobile, Insigne
Austria: Bachmann; Lainer, Hinteregger, Dragovic, Alaba; Grillitsch; Laimer, X Schlager, Sabitzer, Baumgartner; Arnautovic
Ref: Taylor (ENG)