Italy and Austria can’t train at Wembley

Italy and Austria will not be able to train on the pitch at Wembley before the Euro 2020 Round of 16 game on Saturday.

It kicks off at 20.00 UK time, but that will also be the first time the players are allowed to test out this hallowed turf.

The Italian Football Federation announced during today’s press conference that the Azzurri and Austria have been informed by UEFA they won’t be able to train at Wembley on Friday.

This is in order to preserve the state of the pitch, which will be used for several games in the knockout stages of the tournament.

Italy are therefore now trying to find an alternative training ground to work on after they fly to London tomorrow.

It’s believed they will train in Italy in the morning, at their usual Coverciano ground, and then fly to London after lunch.

It comes after question marks were raised on whether Wembley should be used as a venue for the game at all, considering the rising number of COVID-19 cases in England.