Austria to face Italy in round of 16 after 1-0 win over Ukraine

Austria qualified for the knockout stages of the European Championship for the first time after a well-deserved victory against Ukraine earn...

Austria qualified for the knockout stages of the European Championship for the first time after a well-deserved victory against Ukraine earned them a last-16 match against Italy.

Franco Foda's team put up a valiant performance in Bucharest, and Christoph Baumgartner's close-range strike was enough to secure a meeting with the Italians at Wembley on Saturday.

Ukraine, who finished third in Group C, now wait to see if their three points are enough to go to the knockout stages, and Austria could have punished them even more severely.

Austria had 13 shots on target before halftime, second only to Italy's 14 against Turkey on the opening night of the tournament.

Marko Arnautovic pushed a shot wide with the goal at his mercy shortly before halftime.

Ukraine, on the other hand, failed to find any consistency in their play, with Mykola Shaparenko forcing an easy diving save from Austrian goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann in the first half.

What the players and managers said

Franco Foda, Austria coach: "It's just so cool. I think the boys performed fantastically today. We were determined to reach the round of 16; we wanted to write history. You could see the boys took that on board and showed from the first minute that we wanted to win the game. I'm very proud of my team."

Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine coach: "It was an extremely hard game, especially physically. We lost individual duels and committed errors. I saw a team that lacked energy. We gave everything in the second half but sometimes you have these games where whatever you do, nothing goes well. Sooner or later it leads to mistakes. We lost a simple ball in midfield, then conceded that corner and the goal. After that, we largely didn't have a chance to get back into game."

Christoph Baumgartner, Austria midfielder: "I can't quite comprehend it all, my head is really hurting! This is really special for all of us. Austria, enjoy it!"

Daniel Bachmann, Austria goalkeeper: "That was incredible. We should have been 4-0 ahead at the break, but by not doing that, we made life difficult for ourselves. We defended well and deserve to be in the round of 16."

🇦🇹 Florian Grillitsch rewarded after impressing in Bucharest against Ukraine 🥇

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