Record-breaking Italy in the mood

After 19 hours of flawless defending, Italy broke its own world record for not conceding a goal in international soccer.

The streak ended a mere 25 minutes later.

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma played the bulk of the record 1,168 minutes, including three clean sheets in the group stage of the European Championship. But Austria pushed the Italians to extra time on Saturday in the last 16 and finally found the net, despite Italy's 2-1 victory at Wembley Stadium.

Austria forward Sasa Kalajdzic scored the goal with a header in the 114th minute, not long after substitutes Federico Chiesa and Matteo Pessina had given Italy the lead.

"We knew it wouldn't be easy," Donnarumma said. "We were good not to give anything up, not even an inch, and we eventually found the two goals in extra time ... but these games can help us improve for the next ones."

The previous record for scoreless minutes also belonged to Italy, set between 1972 and 1974 when Dino Zoff was the goalkeeper. That record lasted 1,143 minutes, and every second was played by Zoff.

Donnarumma played for 987 minutes of the current record, while Salvatore Sirigu played for 91 minutes, Alessio Cragno for 63 and Alex Meret for 27.

Italy head coach Roberto Mancini said that his team deserved to be in the quarterfinals despite struggling to break down Austria in regulation time.

Italy had strolled through the group stages and were expected to easily beat the Austrians, but had to wait until five minutes into extra time to take the lead through Chiesa.

Pessina made sure that the Azzurri would make the last eight but Austria pulled one back through Kalajdzic to keep the tie in the balance until the final whistle.

"We got the result because we deserved it. In the first half we could have scored a couple of goals and then after the break we dropped off physically," Mancini told Italy's public broadcaster RAI.

"We won thanks to the players who came on with the right mindset and resolved the situation.

"I knew it would be hard, maybe even more so than in quarterfinals."

The win means that Mancini has guided Italy to 31 matches unbeaten, breaking a record that had been established by Vittorio Pozzo in the 1930s.

'Burst of joy'

Italy nearly came up a few minutes short on Saturday. Austria's Marko Arnautovic headed home in the 65th minute but the goal was disallowed after a video review showed the Shanghai Port striker was offside.

"I didn't realize anything on the field," Donnarumma said. "Then they told me they were checking with the VAR and then when it was offside it was a burst of joy."

Zoff had been preparing for the record to be broken. In a recent interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, he praised Donnarumma and the Italy team.

"He is an extraordinary goalkeeper who at age 22 has already had several seasons as a first-choice player at AC Milan," said Zoff, who won the European Championship in 1968 and the World Cup in 1982.

"The extraordinary numbers are what impresses me about this national team. Numbers are everything in sport. It is a young team which surely has a future and that must start now to make a name for itself."

Italy also set a team record of 31 straight matches unbeaten as well as a record 12 straight victories.

"We've always defended well, but never as tonight," said Italy defender Leonardo Spinazzola, who was named man of the match by UEFA. "Austria is a physically strong side and it was hard to win aerial duels. We played as a team and that's important."

AFP