The Azzurri were held for over 95 minutes but eventually hit the target to seal the win in Saturday night's Round of 16 encounter.

Italy were forced to grind out a result in Saturday night's European Championship Round of 16 encounter with Austria to book a place in the quarter-final. Goals by Federico Chiesa and Matteo Pessina fired the Azzurri into the lead before Sasa Kalajdzic pulled one back for their opponents in a thrilling extra-time affair inside Wembley.

Having enjoyed a run of 11 consecutive wins ahead of the last 16 fixture, Italy remained the bookies' favorites to progress to the quarter-finals in their tie with Austria. However, the latter who had finished as Group C runners-up behind the Netherlands, gave them a contest to remember by remaining resolute from start to finish. A little bit of luck would have come in handy for Franco Foda's men as they saw Marko Arnautovic's header being ruled for offside by VAR in the 67th minute and a penalty decision for Stefan Lainer also overruled.

Eventually, it was a change in personnel that did the trick for Italy and nullified all the hard work done by Austria after both sides failed to score in regulation time. Federico Chiesa, who had replaced Dominico Berardi in the 84th minute, smashed home the opener to hand his side the lead before Matteo Pessina added the buffer in the 105th minute. The Atalanta midfielder, whose goal was the 100th score in Euro 20202, had replaced Nicolo Barella in the 67th minute.

A brilliant header by Sasa Kalajdzic ended Italy's run of 11 consecutive cleansheets - their longest streak in history - and handed them a late scare. Austria's subsequent push for an equalizer did not yield much with Mancini's men extending their unbeaten run across all competitions to 31 - a new record for the Azzurri.

They will face the winner of Sunday's clash between Belgium and Portugal in the quarter-final.