On Monday (20th June) Daniele De Rossi looked ahead to their final Group E game against the Republic of Ireland and praised the work of his manager Antonio Conte.

SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Daniele De Rossi, Italy midfielder:(On Italy coach Antonio Conte, and the fact that he will leave Italy to coach Chelsea at the end of Euro 2016)

"Conte means balance, he means organisation, and this is something that on the pitch matters perhaps even more than having a player who is great in one-on-one situations, or is good at bicycle kicks, or scores a lot. That is an advantage that we have compared to the other teams, and the other coaches. We don't miss him already, he's around us quite a lot and we spend so much time all together that we can't miss him. We don't care about his future now, we knew it before we started this adventure all together."

SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Daniele De Rossi, Italy midfielder:

"The Irish players are renowned for giving everything on the pitch, we played against Ireland in 2012 and they had zero points, last in the group with no chance to go through, and still they gave everything for ninety minutes, causing us trouble. The fans were supporting them as if it was the final, singing The Fields of Athenry for ninety minutes. It's a great thing to see, but it tells us how most likely they will work even harder in the next match, if possible, and we can't be unprepared for that."