Brazil-born striker Eder overcame an otherwise patchy performance to hit a cracking late winner in a 1-0 victory over Sweden that sent Italy into the last 16 of Euro 2016 on Friday.
Eder, playing in his first major finals for Italy after being naturalised last year, came close to being substituted by Antonio Conte after a dismal opening half up front alongside Southampton striker Graziano Pelle.
But the Inter Milan striker had the Italy bench celebrating wildly on the pitch at the Stadium de Toulouse with a well-taken 88th minute strike after running on to Simone Zaza’s header to beat Andreas Eriksson at his far post.
Read the full match report, click here.
Here’s the best of the post-match interviews from the match:
Eder, Italy’s match-winner:
“I’m very happy with the goal.
“I’m delighted for the team, and I’m very happy the coach has kept faith with me.
“I think it helped me I wasn’t playing for Inter Milan a lot at the end of the season. That helped me to save some energy for this championships and also allowed me to work a lot of my fitness.”
“I dedicate this goal to the whole group, everybody who has worked with us this last year and a half and been here from May 18, because we’ve prepared well, so I dedicate this goal to the whole group.”
#ITA match-winner Eder is the @carlsberg Man of the Match 👏#EURO2016 pic.twitter.com/PfK4RhjfGO
— UEFA EURO 2016 (@UEFAEURO) June 17, 2016
Emanuele Giaccherini, Italy striker:
“This Italy side proved it has cojones.
“(This) game was far more difficult compared to Belgium, as we knew Sweden would sit deep and refuse to give us any spaces. They made it hard for us to find width too.
“We felt rather nervous and anxious in the first half, as we felt the pressure of the occasion, but we did much better as time wore on and deserved the victory.”
Erik Hamren, Sweden coach:
“We had the chance with Zlatan (Ibrahimovic), but we didn’t create enough difficulties in the end.
“They worked hard, but we didn’t do enough for a draw.
“We had a few chances, but we didn’t score, however we played against a team that defends very well, even Belgium didn’t succeed in scoring against Italy. Sure, it would’ve been better to have more chances, but I assure you that we tried, but the defence did their job.”
