* England and Italy are meeting for the first time in morethan 10 years. Italy have had much the better of matches over the last 30 years. Since winning a World Cup qualifier 2-0 in November 1977, England have beaten Italy just once in nine games.
* England are unbeaten in five matches under new manager Roy Hodgson and have won four of them. Since losing 4-1 to Germany at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, they are unbeaten in 11 consecutive competitive matches.
* Victories in penalty shootouts apart, England, who have two wins under their belts this time, have never won three matches at any Euro finals. Even at their home tournament in1996 when they reached the semi-finals, they won two and drew three of their five games.
* Wayne Rooney's winner for England against Ukraine was his first in a major tournament since he scored against Croatia in the 4-2 group game at Euro 2004.
* Italy are unbeaten in their last 13 competitive matches in which they have conceded just four goals.
* Italy have lost only two of their last 17 matches at Euro finals though they did also lose in a penalty shootout against Spain after a 0-0 draw in the Euro 2008 quarter-finals.
Previous meetings:
13/05/33 Fr Italy 1 England 1 Rome
14/11/34 Fr England 3 Italy 2 London
13/05/39 Fr Italy 2 England 2 Milan
16/05/48 Fr Italy 0 England 4 Turin
30/11/49 Fr England 2 Italy 0 London
18/05/52 Fr Italy 1 England 1 Florence
6/05/59 Fr England 2 Italy 2 London
24/05/61 Fr Italy 2 England 3 Rome
14/06/73 Fr Italy 2 England 0 Turin
14/11/73 Fr England 0 Italy 1 London
28/05/76 Fr England 3 Italy 2 New York
17/11/76 WCQ Italy 2 England 0 Rome
16/11/77 WCQ England 2 Italy 0 London
15/06/80 ECF Italy 1 England 0 Turin
6/06/85 Fr Italy 2 England 1 Mexico City
15/11/89 Fr England 0 Italy 0 London
7/07/90 WCF Italy 2 England 1 Bari
12/02/97 WCQ England 0 Italy 1 London
4/06/97 Fr England 2 Italy 0 Nantes
11/10/97 WCQ Italy 0 England 0 Rome
15/11/00 Fr Italy 1 England 0 Turin
27/03/02 Fr England 1 Italy 2 Leeds
Head to head
Played: 22
Italy 9 wins
England 7 wins
Draws 6
Key (NYSE: KEY - news) : WCQ = World Cup qualifier, WCF = World Cup finals, ECF = European Championship finals, Fr = Friendly
(For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO Sportsand on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports)
Short link: