Perfect 10 /
Wales through to knockout stages despite defeat and red card
Wales are through to the knockout stages of Euro 2020 despite a 1-0 defeat by Italy in Rome.
Their automatic qualification was under threat with Switzerland beating Turkey 3-1 in Group A's other fixture, but Wales, down to ten men for the closing 30 minutes, withstood relentless Italian pressure to scrape through in second place on goal difference.
Italy, who had already qualified for the last 16, were utterly dominant despite making eight changes to their team.
Matteo Pessina's goal gave them a 1-0 half-time lead but that scarcely reflected their superiority.
Wales were forced to play the final half an hour a man down after Ethan Ampadu was sent off for a lunge on Federico Bernardeschi, intensifying the Italian onslaught.
Robert Page and his players can now look forward to a second-round match against Group B's runnersup in Amsterdam next Saturday.
GROUP A
ITALY 1
Pessina 39
WALES 0 have qualified for the last 16 of Euro 2020 despite losing 1-0 to Italy in Rome.
Matteo Pessina scored the 39th-minute winner as Italy topped Group A with a 100 per cent record and equalled their national record of 30 games unbeaten.
Wales were forced to play the last 35 minutes with 10 men after Ethan Ampadu was shown a straight red card for a late challenge on Federico Bernardeschi.
Switzerland had Welsh hearts racing by establishing a 2-0 interval lead against Turkey in Baku and trimming Wales' goal difference advantage.
The Swiss eventually won 3-1, but it was not enough to leapfrog Wales and their qualification hopes now reside on being one of the four best third-placed sides.
Wales instead will head to Amsterdam to play the runners-up of Group B, most likely Denmark, Finland or Russia.
The prize at stake was a last16 tie at Wembley with Austria or Ukraine the probable opponents.
Roberto Mancini’s Italy had established themselves as one of the tournament favourites by overwhelming Turkey and Switzerland, two 3-0 wins making it 10 successive victories by the margin of 31-0.
There were only around 400 Wales supporters present in a Stadio Olimpico crowd of around 14,000 amid tight coronavirus restrictions.
But the travelling fans made themselves heard as the action got under way and Italy set up camp in the Wales half.
Emerson Palmieri forced a first save from Danny Ward and the Leicester goalkeepwales
er was grateful that Rafael Toloi's shot flew off Pessina and straight at him.
Marco Verratti was prompting most home attacks with delightful precision, but Italy were let down by careless finishing as Andrea Belotti and Federico Chiesa dragged efforts wide.
Walesdidbreakthestranglehold briefly when Chris Gunter, who has never scored in his long international career, headed Aaron Ramsey's corner just over the crossbar.
But Italy's superiority was rewarded after Verratti had been bundled over by Joe Allen.
Verratti sent in a low freekick which Pessina met superbly on the volley to direct the ball past the helpless Ward.
Bernadeschi almost doubled Italy's lead soon after the restart as his 25-yard free-kick struck a post.
Wales' task got a lot tougher
10 minutes into the second periodwhenampadubrought his boot down on Bernadeschi's foot and Romanian referee Ovidiu Hategan had no hesitation producing his red card.
Ward saved superbly from Belotti and Bryan Cristante before Gareth Bale missed Wales' best opening 15 minutes from time.
Joe Rodon directed a freekick onto Bale's favourite left foot, but the Real Madrid forward snatched at the opportunity and skied the ball over.
Italy: Donnarumma (Sirigu 89), Toloi, Bonucci (Acerbi 46), Bastoni, Emerson Palmieri, Pessina (Castrovilli 87), Jorginho (Cristante 75), Verratti, Bernardeschi (Raspadori 75), Belotti, Chiesa. Subs not used: Di Lorenzo, Spinazzola, Locatelli, Insigne, Immobile, Barella, Meret.
Wales: Ward, Rodon, Ampadu, Gunter, C Roberts, Morrell (Moore 60), Allen (Levitt 86), N Williams (B Davies 86), Bale (Brooks 86), Ramsey, James (Wilson 74). Subs not used: Hennessey, Lockyer, T Roberts, Norrington-davies, J Williams, A Davies, Mepham.
Referee: Ovidiu Alin Hategan (Rom)
into the match just after the hour-mark when Kahveci lashed a shot into the top corner from outside the box.
But Switzerland restored their two-goal lead soon after when Shaqiri provided a first-time finish at the end of a sweeping counter-attack.
Eintracht Frankfurt midfielderstevenzuberprovided the assists for all of Switzerland's goals and went close to adding to the scoring himself on three occasions.
Turkey were much improved after two dismal displays against Italy and Wales and Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer pulled off a series of fine saves, three of them to keep out first-half
efforts from defender Mert Mldr.
Switzerland were also denied on several occasions by outstanding Turkey goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir as both sides created a combined 41 attempts on goal. Turkey failed to muster a rousing finale and exit the tournament without a point and just one goal to their name.
Switzerland must now wait for the other groups to be completed before learning whether they qualify for the knockout stages as one of the four best third-placed teams.
Switzerland: Sommer, Elvedi, Akanji, Rodriguez, Widmer (Mbabu 90), Freuler, Xhaka, Zuber (Benito 85), Shaqiri (Vargas 76), Seferovic (Gavranovic 75), Embolo (Mehmedi 86). Subs not used: Zakaria, Mvogo, Sow, Fassnacht, Kobel, Schar, Comert.
Turkey: Cakir, Celik, Demiral, Soyuncu, Muldur, Ayhan (Yokuslu 63), Under (Karaman 80), Tufan (Yazici 63), Kahveci (Kokcu 80), Calhanoglu (Tokoz 86), Burak Yilmaz. Subs not used: Gunok, Bayindir, Antalyali, Kabak, Unal, Ridvan Yilmaz, Dervisoglu.
Referee: Slavko Vincic (Slo)