Italy are the first team to book their place in the Round of 16 after another scintillating display. Locatelli’s superb brace set them on the way, and Immobile grabbed a deserved third late on to put the seal on the win. Now 29 games unbeaten and ten without even conceding, Italy have sent their fans home happy once more. Switzerland will be disappointed but head back to Baku to face Turkey on Sunday still with hopes of making it through.
Manuel Locatelli bagged a brace of goals for the first time in his career as imperious Italy defeated Switzerland 3-0 at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday to become the first side into the last-16 of the European Championship.
Midfielder Locatelli, 23, opened the scoring with a simple tap-in following Sassuolo team mate Domenico Berardi’s excellent run down the right wing, before he rifled a shot into the bottom corner of the net from the edge of the box early in the second half.
Ciro Immobile added a late third to secure back-to-back 3-0 wins for Italy in the tournament, which extends their unbeaten run to 29 games, the last 10 of which have been victories where they have scored 31 goals and conceded none.
Italy lead Group A with six points after two rounds of matches and are ahead of Wales (four), Switzerland (one) and Turkey (zero). They can seal top spot with a draw in their final pool game against Wales on Sunday.
(Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Toby Davis)
Photos – EPA-EFE/Alessandra Tarantino/Andreas Solaro/ / POOL
UEFA / Reuters
