Italy To Face Spain In Round of 16

Italy will meet Spain in the round of 16 in the European Championships on June 27 at Saint-Denis.

The Azzurri, the Group E winners, still have one game to go before the quarterfinal clash. They'll face Ireland on Wednesday and are predicted to rest some of their starters. They enter the contest against Ireland with six points after a 2-0 win over Belgium and a 1-0 victory against Sweden. Emanuele Giaccherini and Graziano Pelle both scored against the Red Devils, while Eder tallied the lone goal against Sweden.

Spain finished as the Group D runner-up after Croatian winger Ivan Perisic's late goal handed the Balkans the top spot in the group, and a knockout stage match with a third-place team from Group B, E or F. Slovakia is the lone team from any of those three groups to have clinched a spot in the knockout stage.

A clash between Italy and Spain is a rematch of the Euro final from four years ago, where Spain blasted past the Azzurri 4-0 with goals from David Silva, Jordi Alba, Fernado Torres Juan Mata.

The Azzurri won their last Euro Round of 16 match in 2012 with a 4-2 victory in penalty kicks over England.