Azzurri send France and Romania packing
Table of Contents
Nope. It was not Italy who were packing their bags, as if the Romanians Cristian Chivu declared early before the final match in Group C.
But Romania and France who were sent home by Netherlands and Italy instead.
Andrea Pirlo and Daniele de Rossi put Italy through to the quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory over Les Bleus in their final Group C match.
The world champions secured second spot in "Group of Death' with a helping hand from Netherlands who defeat Romania 2-0.
The victory over old foes France would have been meaningless if Romania had beaten Netherlands, but the Dutch managed to beat Tricolorii to ensure a place in the last eight of Euro 2008 for Gli Azzurri.
The match expected to be a survival match between 2006 World Cup Finalists.
Roberto Donadoni made two changes, dropping Juventus duo Alessandro del Piero and Mauro Camoranesi in favour of Antonio Cassano and Gennaro Gattuso.
It was Cassano's first start for his country in 21 months.
Meanwhile Raymond Domenech made three changes from the side crunched by Netherlands, went for an all-attack formation.
He also made a surprising decision to put Éric Abidal in the centre of the French defence to replace veteran centre-back Lilian Thuram.
France suffered an early blow when Franck Ribéry hurt his left ankle after landing awkwardly in a mistimed tackle on Gianluca Zambrotta.
He had to be stretchered off with what looked a serious injury.
Domenech introduced Samir Nasri, but without their best player up to now, France's prospects had suddenly plunged.
Things were about to get much worse for Les Bleus in the 24th minute when Abidal, who usually operates at left-back, clumsily brought Luca Toni down in the area.
Since Abidal was the last defender, the referee Lubos Michel had no hesitation in pulling out a red card for the Barcelona player.
Pirlo converted the resulting penalty, hitting the ball high into the near top corner.
In attempt to remedy the balance of his side, Domenech then replaced substitute Nasri and brought on former Juventus defender Jean-Alain Boumsong.
The unfortunate Nasri, who had only been on the pitch for 15 minutes, was sacrificed by Domenech to restore his shattered defence.
Italy finally grabbed their second in somewhat fortuitous luck.
In the 62nd minute, de Rossi drilled a free kick from 25 meters which took a big deflection off Thierry Henry's boot in the wall, sending Grégory Coupet the wrong way.
Unfortunately, there was some bad news for the Donadoni's side as Pirlo was booked for a tackle to stop Karim Benzema in the first half, which means he will be suspended for the next match.
Gattuso was also booked and will be suspended as well.
For France, with just only one goal scored, was the end of their international domination era.
And it also proved about how big their reliance on their former maestro Zidane.
France: 23-Grégory Coupet; 14-François Clerc, 5-William Gallas, 3-Éric Abidal, 13-Patrice Evra; 10-Sidney Govou (8-Nicolas Anelka 66), 20-Jérémy Toulalan, 6-Claude Makélélé, 22-Franck Ribéry (11-Samir Nasri 10, 2-Jean-Alain Boumsong 26), 12-Thierry Henry, 9-Karim Benzema
Italy: 1-Gianluigi Buffon; 19-Gianluca Zambrotta, 4-Giorgio Chiellini, 2-Christian Panucci, 3-Fabio Grosso; 21-Andrea Pirlo (13-Massimo Ambrosini 55), 10-Daniele De Rossi, 8-Gennaro Gattuso (22-Alberto Aquilani 82); 20-Simone Perrotta (16-Mauro Camoranesi 64); 9-Luca Toni, 18-Antonio Cassano
Referee: Lubos Michel (Slovakia)
Statistics:
Also see:
But Romania and France who were sent home by Netherlands and Italy instead.
Andrea Pirlo and Daniele de Rossi put Italy through to the quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory over Les Bleus in their final Group C match.
The world champions secured second spot in "Group of Death' with a helping hand from Netherlands who defeat Romania 2-0.
The victory over old foes France would have been meaningless if Romania had beaten Netherlands, but the Dutch managed to beat Tricolorii to ensure a place in the last eight of Euro 2008 for Gli Azzurri.
The match expected to be a survival match between 2006 World Cup Finalists.
Roberto Donadoni made two changes, dropping Juventus duo Alessandro del Piero and Mauro Camoranesi in favour of Antonio Cassano and Gennaro Gattuso.
It was Cassano's first start for his country in 21 months.
Meanwhile Raymond Domenech made three changes from the side crunched by Netherlands, went for an all-attack formation.
He also made a surprising decision to put Éric Abidal in the centre of the French defence to replace veteran centre-back Lilian Thuram.
France suffered an early blow when Franck Ribéry hurt his left ankle after landing awkwardly in a mistimed tackle on Gianluca Zambrotta.
He had to be stretchered off with what looked a serious injury.
Domenech introduced Samir Nasri, but without their best player up to now, France's prospects had suddenly plunged.
Things were about to get much worse for Les Bleus in the 24th minute when Abidal, who usually operates at left-back, clumsily brought Luca Toni down in the area.
Since Abidal was the last defender, the referee Lubos Michel had no hesitation in pulling out a red card for the Barcelona player.
Pirlo converted the resulting penalty, hitting the ball high into the near top corner.
In attempt to remedy the balance of his side, Domenech then replaced substitute Nasri and brought on former Juventus defender Jean-Alain Boumsong.
The unfortunate Nasri, who had only been on the pitch for 15 minutes, was sacrificed by Domenech to restore his shattered defence.
Italy finally grabbed their second in somewhat fortuitous luck.
In the 62nd minute, de Rossi drilled a free kick from 25 meters which took a big deflection off Thierry Henry's boot in the wall, sending Grégory Coupet the wrong way.
Unfortunately, there was some bad news for the Donadoni's side as Pirlo was booked for a tackle to stop Karim Benzema in the first half, which means he will be suspended for the next match.
Gattuso was also booked and will be suspended as well.
For France, with just only one goal scored, was the end of their international domination era.
And it also proved about how big their reliance on their former maestro Zidane.
| France |  | 0 - 2 |  | Italy |
| Andrea Pirlo 25 pen | ||||
| Daniele De Rossi 62 |
France: 23-Grégory Coupet; 14-François Clerc, 5-William Gallas, 3-Éric Abidal, 13-Patrice Evra; 10-Sidney Govou (8-Nicolas Anelka 66), 20-Jérémy Toulalan, 6-Claude Makélélé, 22-Franck Ribéry (11-Samir Nasri 10, 2-Jean-Alain Boumsong 26), 12-Thierry Henry, 9-Karim Benzema
Italy: 1-Gianluigi Buffon; 19-Gianluca Zambrotta, 4-Giorgio Chiellini, 2-Christian Panucci, 3-Fabio Grosso; 21-Andrea Pirlo (13-Massimo Ambrosini 55), 10-Daniele De Rossi, 8-Gennaro Gattuso (22-Alberto Aquilani 82); 20-Simone Perrotta (16-Mauro Camoranesi 64); 9-Luca Toni, 18-Antonio Cassano
Referee: Lubos Michel (Slovakia)
Statistics:
| Shots on target : | 3 | - | 4 |
| Shots off target : | 6 | - | 10 |
| Ball possession (%) : | 52 | - | 48 |
| Corner kicks : | 3 | - | 3 |
| Offsides : | 2 | - | 2 |
| Fouls : | 22 | - | 24 |
| Yellow cards : | 4 | - | 3 |
| Red cards : | 1 | - | 0 |
Please subscribe to our RSS feed to receive more updates. You can also subscribe by Email and enjoy our latest posts sent directly to your inbox.
Also see:
