World champions Italy qualified for the UEFA EURO 2008 quarter-finals in dramatic fashion on Tuesday as they defeated France 2-0 at the Letzigrund Stadion and Romania lost by the same score to the Netherlands.

Pirlo penalty
Romania had begun the evening second, in Group C, and would have progressed regardless of events in Zurich had they beaten the already-qualified Dutch. But their defeat opened the door to the Azzurri who seized the opportunity in clinical fashion, inflicting another painful defeat on France and condemning the FIFA World Cup finalists to last place in the section. The game’s turning point arrived in the 24th minute when, after fouling Luca Toni, Eric Abidal was sent off and Andrea Pirlo converted the resulting penalty. Daniele De Rossi’s second-half strike added the gloss to a wonderful evening for Italy, dampened only by the yellow cards for Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso which mean they will miss the quarter-final against Spain on 22 June in Vienna.

Ribéry injury
France almost gifted Italy an ideal start when Toni pounced on Abidal’s slip, only to shoot narrowly wide. Having started slowly in each of their first two matches, Les Bleus were keen to seize an early grip and Franck Ribéry twice fired efforts wide before, to the dismay of the France fans, the winger injured his left leg in the tenth minute and carried off. Samir Nasri was sent on, yet France’s focus appeared to waver and Claude Makelele immediately needed to clear a Christian Panucci header off the line.

Red card
Italy looked menacing every time they broke and after Simone Perrotta had narrowly failed to collect Pirlo’s pass, France finally cracked. Abidal fouled Toni as he bore down on goal, prompting the referee to point to the spot and brandish a red card. Pirlo made no mistake, expertly dispatching the ball into the top left-hand corner. The double blow left France reeling and despite defender Jean-Alain Boumsong replacing the unfortunate Nasri, the two-time champions were in disarray. Toni might have scored three in as many minutes before the half-hour, but after skilfully back-heeling Antonio Cassano’s cross fractionally past the post, the FC Bayern München forward twice missed the target with only Grégory Coupet to beat.

Gross free-kick
Thierry Henry had an opportunity to raise French spirits in the 34th minute but after racing on to Jérémy Toulalan’s slick pass, the FC Barcelona forward struck a cross-shot past the post. With the strikers struggling to find their range, Fabio Grosso looked to show them the way just before half-time, curling a brilliant free-kick towards the bottom corner only for his Olympique Lyonnais team-mate Coupet to push it on to the post.

Almighty roar
Despite playing with ten men, France began the second period in the ascendancy, with Karim Benzema volleying over before Henry had two shots comfortably saved by Gianluigi Buffon. News that the Netherlands had opened the scoring against Romania prompted an almighty roar from the Azzurri faithful and the celebrating continued when De Rossi scored on 62 minutes. The AS Roma midfielder’s 30-metre free-kick took a cruel deflection off Henry, wrong-footing Coupet and effectively ending the French challenge. Although Benzema subsequently saw his curling shot brilliantly tipped wide by Buffon in the 74th minute, there was no way back for France, who finished their campaign with just one point after losing back-to-back matches for the first time in 15 years.

There may be little love lost between France and Italy but their two coaches were in agreement over one matter ahead of the eagerly anticipated Group C showdown in Zurich: for both Les Bleus and their transalpine rivals the final has come early at UEFA EURO 2008.

Dramatic evening
"This is the kind of game every player dreams of being involved in," France coach Raymond Domenech enthused, while his Italian counterpart Roberto Donadoni said: "We know what’s at stake and we’re ready to put our hearts and souls into it. For us, this is already a final." Few could have predicted that the two 2006 FIFA World Cup finalists, would be locking horns on Tuesday knowing that even a victory may not prove enough to reach the quarter-finals. With one point each after two matches, Romania could render their efforts fruitless by beating the Netherlands in Berne to hold on to second spot. It promises to be a dramatic evening, although Domenech is urging his men to focus only on events at the Letzigrund Stadion. "We have to forget the other game completely," he stressed. "We still have a tiny chance but it will only happen if we win our game."

‘Find a balance’
Like the world champions, who lost 3-0 to the Dutch in their opening game, France suffered their heaviest defeat in UEFA European Championship history in losing 4-1 against the Netherlands – and Domenech admits improvements are needed. "We’ve been trying to get the Dutch game out our heads for the last three days," the 56-year-old said. "Despite the result, there were positives to take from the performance, notably concerning the number of chances we created. But we need to find a balance. Against Romania we made a lot of effort to defend, whereas against the Netherlands we made a lot of effort to attack. Against Italy we’ll need to do a lot of defending and attacking."

Vieira absent
Domenech will again be without Patrick Vieira due to a thigh injury and, though he remained coy on the subject of team selection, Eric Abidal, Lassana Diarra and Karim Benzema are being tipped to feature after missing out last time. Italy coach Roberto Donadoni was also keeping his cards close to his chest, saying: "I already have a good idea of my lineup, but this time I won’t reveal anything beforehand." The former AC Milan midfielder is not expected to repeat the five changes he made for the 1-1 draw with Romania, although Antonio Cassano may start in place of Alessandro Del Piero, while Massimo Ambrosini and Gennaro Gattuso are pressing for recalls.

Keen rivalry
Ever since David Trezeguet’s extra-time winner in the UEFA EURO 2000 final, France-Italy games have been keenly contested. The Azzurri gained revenge for the Rotterdam defeat by triumphing in Berlin two years ago, yet Domenech’s side reclaimed the upper hand with a victory in Paris in qualifying. Donadoni suggested the rivalry was not a significant factor, however, saying: "It’s just like any other game. It’s an important game, but playing France is no different to playing the Netherlands or Romania. Both sides will be extremely motivated and will try to win. It should be exciting. I can’t wait for the game to start."

Italy come into this match knowing that they simply have to win if they are to keep qualification for the knockout stages in their own hands.
The Azzurri were torn apart in their opening group match on Monday, losing 3-0 to Holland in Berne, with Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder and Giovanni van Bronckhorst grabbing the goals.
Roberto Donadoni has since been crucified by the Italian press over his mind-boggling team selection after he chose the out-of-form Marco Materazzi in defence, left the in-form Fabio Grosso on the bench, and preferred Massimo Ambrosini to Daniele De Rossi in midfield.
Donadoni will surely make wholesale changes for the match against Romania, and there has been a press campaign for both Alessandro Del Piero and Antonio Cassano to start after they impressed as late second half substitutes against Holland.
It is not all doom-and-gloom for Italy, and a win here will put them back into the running for qualification. A defeat will see them eliminated, while a draw will leave them requiring both of the results to go their way in the final games of the group, when the Azzurri take on France.

When the Group C draw was made, Romania were almost immediately discarded as the also-rans, with Italy, France and Holland expected to fight it out for the two qualification places.
However Victor Piţurcă’s men proved in their first match of the group against France that they are no pushovers, as they produced a superb tactical performance to draw 0-0, limiting Les Bleus to few chances the entire game.
While Romania rarely threatened themselves, they did prove that defensively they are a solid and organised unit, and they will surely set themselves up in a similar way against an Italy side who know that they simply have to win.
If the Tricolorii were to obtain a point in this match, it would mean that a victory in their final game of the group against Holland would be enough to qualify. For this reason a cautious approach at the Letzigrund Stadium is a virtual certainty.
It will be a special game for Christian Chivu, Paul Codrea and Adrian Mutu, who all play their club football in Italy, for Inter, Siena and Fiorentina respectively.
These two teams met in the quarter-finals of Euro 2000, with Francesco Totti and Pippo Inzaghi scoring in a 2-0 Azzurri win. The legendary Gheorghe Hagi hit the post for Romania, caused a serious injury for Antonio Conte, and was later sent off in an eventful game.

Italy
09/06 (Euro 2008): Holland-Italy 3-0
29/05 (Friendly): Italy-Belgium 3-1
26/03 (Friendly): Spain-Italy 1-0
06/02 (Friendly played in Zurich): Italy-Portugal 3-1
21/11 (Euro 2008 Qualifier): Italy-Faroe Islands 3-1
Romania
09/06 (Euro 2008): Romania-France 0-0
31/05 (Friendly): Romania-Montenegro 4-0
26/03 (Friendly): Romania-Russia 3-0
06/02 (Friendly): Israel-Romania 1-0
21/11 (Euro 2008 Qualifier) Romania-Albania 6-1

Roberto Donadoni will surely ring the changes for this game. Marco Materazzi and Andrea Barzagli are both set to be dropped, with Giorgio Chiellini and Fabio Grosso coming in to form a defensive reshuffle. Daniele De Rossi will certainly start in midfield, as will new captain Alex Del Piero up-front. Antonio Cassano is still only likely to be on the substitutes bench.
Italy Lineup: Buffon; Zambrotta, Panucci, Chiellini, Grosso; De Rossi, Pirlo, Ambrosini; Camoranesi, Toni, Del Piero

Romania will play the same disciplined system they employed successfully against France. Ciprian Marica will recover from a head injury but will probably be on the bench, with Daniel Niculae preferred. Christian Chivu will again play in centre midfield following his outstanding performance on Monday. Nicolae Dica may get the nod on the left of midfield after impressing in training this week.
Romania Lineup: Lobont; Contra, Tamas, Goian, Rat; Nicolita, Codrea, Chivu, Dica; D Niculae, Mutu