Having scored the opener during Italy's 2-0 victory over Spain on Monday, Giorgio Chiellini has now claimed that Antonio Conte's men cannot wait to confront Germany in the quarter-finals of Euro 2016.

The Azzurri produced an expert performance against La Roja at the Stade de France, and the Juventus defender has admitted that Italy were happy to gain revenge over Vicente Del Bosque's men, especially after their previous defeats to Spain during the European Championship tournaments of 2008 and 2012.

Despite leading the match from the 33rd minute, the 31-year-old has stressed that Italy should have scored more in Paris, although he was extremely relieved to have had Gianluigi Buffon in goal during the worrisome latter stages.

"This is only the start," said Chiellini to Sky Sport Italia. "The fun stuff starts now.

"We managed to remove some of the pain from Kiev and Vienna today. Spain have been a bit of a problem team for us in the past and they saw that we had something to prove.

"We should have ended the game earlier. In the last few minutes there was a bit of suffering but we had an absolute saint playing behind of us."

Finally, Chiellini also dismissed claims that Italy's strategy is heavily reliant upon defensive tactics, whilst also insisting that they are optimistic ahead of their forthcoming encounter against Germany.

"Italy is not only made up of defence and counter-attack," he added. "Like we have always said, we have our strengths and our weaknesses and it is important to maintain our humility.

"Now we must play against the champions of the world and we have a real desire to do well and do something extraordinary."