WEURO: England and Italy's upcoming battle to the final

This evening England will play Italy in the first quarter final of the Women’s Euros. England come into this match after a hard-fought win against Sweden which they won 3-2 on penalties, whereas Italy enter off the back of a last-minute winner against Norway last week. 

England have had a non-standard beginning to their Euros tournament, beginning with a 2-1 loss to France and continuing most recently with a narrow win on penalties to Sweden last Thursday evening. It has been a hard and arduous journey for the Lionesses to reach the semi-finals, but nonetheless deserved and worthy position to be in. So far, their top scorer has been Ella Toone with two goals and two assists to her name. However, fans will be eager to see more from the other half of the ‘Tooney and Russo’ pairing, as Alessia Russo has only managed to score once this tournament, against Wales, and considering her usual position as the striker for the England team this is rather unexpected. However, considering the strength and breadth of the England squad, another win looks likely for this team. 

On the other hand, the Italian team are considered to be the underdogs in this fixture but still hold a lot of power and control on the field. They have managed to score in all of their fixtures so far this tournament, even against the current World Champions, Spain, in the group stages. In fact, Spain were the only side that the Italians have lost to, as this match concluded 3-1 in the Spanish side’s favour. Their top scorer so far in this tournament is their captain, Cristiana Girelli, who has three goals to her name. Another standout player for Italy is Arianna Caruso who has caused their opponents some issues in the midfield and also managed to score a goal herself against Belgium in their opening match of the Euros. 

Head-to-head, these two sides have faced each other three times, most recently in February last year which saw England defender Lotte Wubben-Moy score her first international goal, setting the Lionesses up to win against the Italians 5-1. In fact, England have won two out of three of the previous matches, with Italy managing to get a draw from the Lionesses just once in April 2017. However, considering all of the changes in both teams’ set-ups, it is debatable whether or not there is another draw on the card for this evening. 

In the last steps towards the final, these two teams will play each other tonight at 8pm BST. The game is available to watch live on ITV1 and STV in the UK with coverage beginning at 7pm!