Italy will face Germany in the quarter finals of the Under 21 European Championship. The Germans, who needed just a draw against England to advance, won 2-1 last night (goals from Knauff and Weiffer and then Scott for England), getting their third win from three in the group. The winner of this tie will face either France or Denmark. Spain vs. England and Portugal vs. The Netherlands round off the other knockout ties. 

Carmine Nunziata spoke about the tie: "Germany are very strong, like all of the sides in the quarter finals. They have quality players and play as a team, it will definitely be a difficult match. There are no favourites in these knockout matches, they're difficult matches in which you give everything during the 90 minutes. The only surprise might be Denmark, but we played them in Cittadella in March and they're a strong team". 

THE OPPOSITION. Led by Antonio Di Salvio since 2021, Germany qualified for the finals after topping their group unbeaten with eight wins and two draws. They beat Slovenia in their opening match thanks to a Nick Woltemade hat-trick. The Stuttgart forward featured three days later in the 4-2 win over Czech Republic, scoring a goal and recording two assists. The team then went on to beat England 2-1 with goals from Knauff and Weiper. 

Italy do not have a great record against Germany, with just two wins, five defeats and two draws. The last meeting between the two sides came in 19 November 2022, when Germany won 4-2 in a friendly in Ancona. 

THE SQUAD LIST AND NUMBERS

Goalkeepers: 1 Sebastiano Desplanches (Palermo), 22 Jacopo Sassi (Crotone), 12 Gioele Zacchi (Latina);

Defenders: 15 Diego Coppola (Hellas Verona), 6 Daniele Ghilardi (Hellas Verona), 19 Gabriele Guarino (Carrarese), 13 Michael Kayode (Brentford), 5 Lorenzo Pirola (Olympiacos), 3 Matteo Ruggeri (Atalanta), 16 Riccardo Turicchia (Juventus), 2 Mattia Zanotti (Lugano);

Midfielders: 23 Alessandro Bianco (Monza), 8 Cesare Casadei (Torino), 18 Issa Doumbia (Venezia), 14 Giovanni Fabbian (Bologna), 21 Jacopo Fazzini (Empoli), 7 Cher Ndour (Fiorentina), 20 Niccolò Pisilli (Roma), 4 Matteo Prati (Cagliari);

Forwards: 9 Giuseppe Ambrosino (Frosinone), 11 Tommaso Baldanzi (Roma), 10 Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds United), 17 Luca Koleosho (Burnley).

Staff – Head Coach: Carmine Nunziata; Head of delegation: Giancarlo Antognoni; Coordinator of the National Men's Teams: Maurizio Viscidi; Team Manager: Gianfranco Serioli; Assistant Coaches: Matteo Brighi and Christian Maggio; Athletic trainers: Vito Azzone e Luca Coppari; Goalkeeper coach: Fabrizio Ferron; Match analyst: Gianluca Mazziotti; Medics: Daniele Mazza e Vincenzo Santoriello; Nutritionist. Maria Luisa Cravana; Physiotherapists: Tommaso Cannata, Giuliano Gepponi and Nicola Sanna; Secretary: Manfredi Martino

GROUP A RESULTS AND STANDINGS

MATCHDAY ONE (11 JUNE)

Slovakia 2-3 Spain 
Italy 1-0 Romania 

MATCHDAY TWO (14 JUNE)

Spain 2-1 Romania 
Slovakia 0-1 Italy

MATCHDAY THREE (17 JUNE)

Spain 1-1 Italy
Romania 1-2 Slovakia

Standings: Spain and Italia 7 points, Slovakia 3, Romania 0

QUARTER FINALS

1) Saturday 21 June (21:00 CEST): Spain vs. England

2) Saturday 21 June (18:00 CEST Zilina): Portugal vs. The Netherlands

3) Sunday 22 June (21:00 CEST, Dunajska Streda): Germany vs. Italy

4) Sunday 22 June (18:00 CEST, Presov): Denmark vs. France

SEMI FINALS

5) Wednesday 25 June (TBC, Bratislava): Winner 1 vs. Winner 2

6) Wednesday 25 June (TBC, Kosice): Winner 3 vs. Winner 4

FINAL

Saturday 28 giugno (ore 21, Bratislava): Winner 5 vs. Winner 6