Andrea Pirlo’s penalty and a deflected Daniele De Rossi strike sank 10-man France to send Italy into the quarter-final, where they’ll face Spain.
Few expected this to be a crunch match for survival rather than group leadership when the draw was made, but both teams would be out if Romania beat Holland’s second-string side. The Azzurri would go through with a win or even a draw if the Romanians lost, but had not beaten the French in 90 minutes since the 1978 World Cup.
Roberto Donadoni made two changes, introducing Gennaro Gattuso and Antonio Cassano for Juventus duo Mauro Camoranesi and Alessandro Del Piero, switching to a 4-3-1-2 system. It was Cassano’s first start in 21 months. Raymond Domenech went for an all-attack formation, though Inter midfielder Patrick Vieira was still not 100 per cent fit.
Italy played in their all-white strip in the pouring rain. Luca Toni had a fantastic early chance when he took a long ball away from Eric Abidal only to scuff well wide with just the goalkeeper to beat.
Franck Ribery hurt his ankle during a mistimed tackle on Gianluca Zambrotta and had to be stretchered off in clear agony, substituted by interesting youth product Samir Nasri.
Christian Panucci has scored Italy’s only goal so far in this tournament and nearly made it two on 10 minutes when his header from a corner was cleared off the line by Claude Makelele.
Karim Benzema fired wide of the near post from distance and Patrice Evra went into the book for a foul on Cassano. Simone Perrotta’s first touch wasn’t good enough to make the most of Andrea Pirlo’s smart ball over the top that had sent him clear on goal.
The game changed on 24 minutes. A Pirlo searching pass over the defence was hooked down by Toni and Abidal mistimed the tackle from behind to hack him down clumsily. The penalty and the red card were inevitable. Pirlo created the goal and converted it, smashing the finish high into the near top corner.
In a curious move, Domenech replaced substitute Nasri with ex-Juventus defender Jean-Alain Boumsong, leaving the youngster on the field for only 15 minutes.
In a well-worked move, Fabio Grosso and Perrotta combined for the on-rushing Daniele De Rossi to blast over. Toni nearly scored the goal of the tournament with an acrobatic backheel flick that skimmed the upright! Another ball over the top from Pirlo was ballooned off target by Toni at full stretch and fired wide again from a promising position.
Yet Thierry Henry went close with an angled drive that flashed across the face of goal.
De Rossi went on a slalom and after riding the fourth tackle was brought down by Jeremie Toulalan just outside the box. From that set-piece Fabio Grosso curled a fine left-foot finish on to the base of the upright thanks to Lyon teammate Gregory Coupet’s fingertip save!
France went on the counter despite Perrotta being down injured and Pirlo was booked for a tackle to stop Benzema, meaning the Milan midfielder will be suspended for the next match.
Italy were particularly furious moments later when Evra was down and this time Lubos Michel stopped play so he could receive treatment. The tension rose and Giorgio Chiellini went into the book, too.
Straight after the restart Sidney Govou saw yellow for a sliding tackle on Cassano, but there was a scare as a totally unmarked Benzema cracked a fierce volley just over from Toulalan’s deflected cross. Henry had a couple of chances comfortably smothered by Gigi Buffon as 10-man France began to cause problems.
Gennaro Gattuso was booked and will also be suspended. Pirlo made way for Milan companion Massimo Ambrosini to shore up the midfield, but Panucci had to clear from Benzema in a dangerous move. The Azzurri seemed almost nervous at the prospect of victory and were under pressure from the 10 men of France.
Coupet came charging out to clear a Cassano through ball off the feet of Toni. Italy finally doubled their lead with a moment of luck that had evaded them for the tournament so far. De Rossi’s free kick from 25 metres took a decisive deflection off Henry’s foot in the wall to send Coupet the wrong way.
Perrotta made way for Mauro Camoranesi and Nicolas Anelka replaced Govou. Boumsong was booked for a tackle from behind on Toni to halt a counter and the Bayern Munich striker’s header from a Camoranesi cross was deflected out for a corner.
Buffon performed his first real save of the night on 73 minutes, flying to palm a marvellous Benzema curler round the post.
The final substitution saw Gattuso leave the field for Alberto Aquilani and the Roma man will be needed as Rino must sit out a ban. Within seconds the substitute won back a smart ball that Cassano crossed for Toni and although Coupet made a save, it would have been ruled out anyway due to a push.
The tension got to Henry and he was carded for a pointless challenge on former Barcelona teammate Zambrotta. Coupet gathered a deflected Cassano effort and in stoppages the unlucky Toni thumped the frame of the goal with a fierce strike from the edge of the box.
France: Coupet; Clerc, Gallas, Abidal, Evra; Govou (Anelka 66), Toulalan, Makelele, Ribery (Nasri 10) (Boumsong 25); Benzema, Henry
Italy: Buffon; Zambrotta, Panucci, Chiellini, Grosso; Gattuso (Aquilani 81), Pirlo (Ambrosini 54), De Rossi; Perrotta (Camoranesi 63); Cassano, Toni
Ref: Michel (Slk)
Sent off: Abidal 24 (F)
Ref From channel4.com
