Italy

For the first time in European Championship history, a nation has won all three of its group stage matches without conceding a goal. Italy defeated Wales 1-0 on Sunday to finish top of Group A and book a Round of 16 trip to Wembley Stadium, where they’ll likely meet either Ukraine or Austria.

Italy manager Roberto Mancini made eight changes to the side that hammered Switzerland on Wednesday, but the Azzurri looked no different in how they went about dominating the opposition.

On July 3, 2001, Gianluigi Buffon became the most expensive goalkeeper in football, moving from Parma to Juventus for a fee of around $58 million. Now, two decades and 489 Serie A appearances later, Buffon is back at the club where it all started.

Gigi Buffon officially became a Parma player again on Thursday, signing with the Serie B side on a two-year deal. "Superman" had returned.

Italy favorites to win Euro 2020? I’d argue for Gli Azzurri. Italy picked up its second victory in Group A and secured a spot in the knockout stages after comfortably defeating Switzerland 3-0.

It was an unexpected hero who bagged a brace for Italy as Manuel Locatelli got the double to secure the three points. The Sassuolo midfielder had never scored a brace for club or country before Wednesday.

Italy, nominally, was the away team for its Euro 2020 opener on Friday. Though the match was played in Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Turkey was designated the home team. In reality, it was a home game for Azzurri, and one to celebrate as major international soccer returned after a year’s delay because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Soccer's European Championship kicks off on Friday with the 24 teams' battle for glory accompanied by off-field conflict over the anti-racism gesture of "taking the knee".

England were booed by some of their fans in two friendlies while Ireland were jeered in Hungary for kneeling before kickoff in a move borrowed from American NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and popularised by the Black Lives Matter movement.

A year late and thousands of fans short, Euro 2020 is finally here, and we couldn’t have asked for a more intriguing match to kick off the competition. After a year of uncertainty, the opening match is just as unpredictable as the 16 months that preceded it. Any Italy vs Turkey preview or prediction is mere speculation, as the Euro 2020’s first match is sure to enthrall.

ROME - Inter Milan did not think they would need to replace Antonio Conte this year, but in successor Simone Inzaghi, they hope to have found a natural heir.

Conte terminated his deal by mutual consent in May over frustration at Inter's plans to cut costs and sell key players due to financial problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.