Azzurri in a fix again

The scenario Italy feared from the start in this tournament was needing a win against Ireland with Spain and Croatia both in a position to qualify with a draw.

In 2004 Giovanni Trapattoni’s Italy team drew their first two, then beat Bulgaria 2-1 but still were obliged to board that Rome-bound plane because the draw between Sweden and Denmark allowed both countries through.

No matter that the two Scandinavian countries have a football rivalry that stretches back almost a century, culminating in the fighting that caused their 2008 Euro qualifier to be abandoned. For the Italians that game was and remains a fix.