Conte insists Italy’s EURO 2016 qualification wasn’t easy

A win away to Group H rivals Azerbaijan later Saturday will see Italy book their place in the Euro 2016 finals and Italian football federation (FIGC) bosses are already keen for Conte to sign a contract extension until 2018.

Italy now host second placed Norway on Tuesday evening in the final qualifying match and the victor from that encounter will top Group H.

Azerbaijan went into the contest at their new 60,000-seater stadium in fifth place and out of contention but looking to extend their four-match unbeaten run.

The Azzurri restored their advantage before the break with a well-worked move.

Italy coach Antonio Conte applauded his deployment of a rarely-used tactical system that could provide the basis for his “little war machine” when the Azzurri head to Euro 2016 next summer.

Indeed, the Italians booked their spot for France ’16 with a 3-1 win in Azerbaijan and a superb performance from right-back Darmian aided their triumph.

“I hope he’ll be able to recover for Norway”. Sadiqov, on his 100th worldwide appearance, does tremendously well to clear Eder’s effort off the line! Ruslan Qurbanov is likely to spearhead Azerbaijan’s attack, while Gara Garayev will keep things ticking in the middle of the park in a 4-1-4-1 formation.

Croatia were playing their first match under coach Ante Cacic, who replaced Niko Kovac last month, and he enjoyed the ideal start to his tenure thanks to goals from Ivan Perisic, Ivan Rakitic and Nikola Kalinic.

Italy will be without Daniele de Rossi as he begins serving a two-match ban, while Lorenzo Insigne is also missing as he has been forced to withdraw from the squad with a knee injury that he suffered in training.

A four-time World Cup victor, Italy’s only European Championship title came in 1968.

Matteo Darmian has described scoring his first goal for Italy on Saturday night as “pure joy”. The visitors have a strike-force full of form, with Graziano Pelle bagging last time out for his country and three in his last five for Southampton in the English Premier League.

Just after the half-hour mark, a defensive lapse allowed Nazarov to score from the edge of the area, with Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci sharing the blame.