Death match: Italy and Croatia face off in a Euro ‘knockout clash’
With wounds to dress and points to prove, Italy and Croatia face each other knowing their Euro 2024 survival is on the line in tonight’s decisive Group B match at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig at 9pm.
Italy’s chastening 1-0 defeat by a dominant Spain on Thursday and Croatia’s 2-2 draw with Albania after conceding a stoppage-time equaliser left both teams anxiously glancing at the table heading into their last game.
Italy, second with three points after their opening win over Albania, will be through to the last 16 as runners-up if they avoid defeat. They will be unable to progress, however, if they lose and Albania beat group winners Spain in the other Group B decider at the same time.
The situation is more pressing for Zlatko Dalic’s Croatia, who began the tournament with a thumping 3-0 loss to Spain and prop up the table with a point. They will go through as runners-up if they beat Italy and Albania do not beat Spain.
A draw, however, is unlikely to be good enough as no team have made the next round with two points since the Euro finals expanded to 24 teams in 2016 - offering a place in the last 16 to the four best third-placed finishers.
While Italy, Croatia and Albania are all still hoping to go through to the last 16, Spain have already qualified at the top of the group.
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Group A, meanwhile, was decided last night, with the rest of the groups finalised this week.
Hosts Germany already booked their place in the next round before they faced second-placed Switzerland, with Scotland and Hungary playing the other match.
Heading into the final week, England lead Group C with four points, with Denmark and Slovenia (both on two) and Serbia on one point.
Netherlands and France share top spot in Group D with four points, Austria (three) and Poland (zero) in third and fourth, while all the teams (Romania, Belgium, Slovakia and Ukraine) in Group E have three points.
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Portugal is the third and last time who secured qualification before the final round after they beat Turkey 3-0 on Saturday.
The Turks are second in the pool on three points, with Czech Republic and Georgia two points behind.
Weekend’s Euro results
Belgium 2 Romania 0 (Youri Tielemans 2’, Kevin de Bruyne 79’); Turkey 0 Portugal 3 (Bernardo Silva 21’, Samet Akaydin 28’, Bruno Fernandes 56’); Georgia 1 (Georges Mikautadze 45+4) Czech Republic 1 (Patrik Schick 59’); Netherlands 0 France 0; Poland 1 (Krzysztof Piatek 30’) Austria 3 (Gernot Trauner 9’, Christoph Baumgartner 66’, Marko Arnautovic 78’); Slovakia 1 (Ivan Schranz 17’) Ukraine 2 (Mykola Shaparenko 54’, Roman Yaremchuk 80’).
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