Italy head coach Antonio Conte believes " a draw would have been a fairer outcome" after they fell to a 1-0 defeat against the Republic of Ireland on Wednesday (22nd June), while he got agitated when questioned about upcoming opponents Spain asking a reporter " do you want me to tell you they're rubbish?" before adding "we're coming up against one of the best sides in the world, end of. Unless I'm not some sort of visionary and I come down from the moon (laughs) and I think Spain are just a sparring partner.

SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Antonio Conte, Italy head coach (On match)

"There was a lot of heavy powerful challenges, there were a lot of second balls, there were a lot of balls thrown into the mixer, it was quite typical of their brand of football. I think the pitch helped them more in this situation than it did for us. I have to congratulate them because they put a lot into the game, a lot of grit, because this was life or death for them. But I saw some great responses from the players, because those that played really gave everything they had, they responded blow for blow. Perhaps we were punished when we were on top in the game, that's when we conceded. Congratulations to the Republic of Ireland because they really wanted to go through and they were rewarded, perhaps maybe more than they deserved to, but they were rewarded nonetheless."

SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Antonio Conte, Italy head coach

(Q: Your players were very relaxed in camp and up til now, but are you concerned about anxiety leading up to this Spain game)

"Why should that create any anxiety, the players are doing everythig they have to. they are working very hard. hard work is everything for us, we need to keep grafting and do everything we need to do. We must not have any anxiety because as I said the first thing was to get into the last 16 of the competition. Now we have a game against one of the favourites to win the competition as a whole, let's not forget where we started from, we must not get above our station. The fact we are playing in a last 16 game against Spain is something that should excite us, just as we did against Belgium, who on paper seemed a much more superior side to us."