In the 38th minute of one of this afternoon’s final Group A fixtures between Italy and Wales, the Azzurri took the lead after some masterful thinking from Marco Verratti and clinical touch of Matteo Pessina.
Roberto Mancini’s men had themselves a free-kick a few yards outside the box on the right side, Verratti and Federico Bernardeschi then stepped up and caught Wales out with a dummy attempt.
As Bernardeschi scurried away from the ball, Verratti fired in a low cross which was turned into the net by the first man in Pessina with a tidy side-foot volley finish from 12 yards out.
Pessina darted past Joe Morrell as the ball came in, leaving the midfielder with enough space to direct the ball into the goal.
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#ITA lead – and that’s such a tidy finish from Pessina ?
As things stand, #WAL are still second in Group A – but with #SUI 2-0 up on #TUR, that goal difference advantage is starting to ebb away…#ITAWAL | #ITVFootball | #Euro2020 pic.twitter.com/bc3faqqIFj
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 20, 2021
Pictures from ITV and beIN Sports.
Rob Page and the Wales staff will be massively frustrated with this moment, Morrell unfortunately couldn’t react quick enough to the free-kick and the Dragons are now behind.