Looking at their next opponents, Italy defender Francesco Acerbi claimed that the Belgian forward is a more competent attacker than Cristiano Ronaldo.
Acerbi played the entire 120 minutes as the Azzurri edged out Austria 2-1 to progress to the quarterfinals of the Euros.It was a very cagey game and both teams failed to take their chances in regulation time. It was substitute Federico Chiesa who broke the deadlock for Italy in extra time. Later Matteo Pessina scored the insurance goal for Roberto Mancini’s men.
But the game was far from over as another substitute Sasa Kalajdzic came up with a fine header to pull one back. However it was way too much for the Austrians to stage a comeback or even force the penalties.
When asked about Italy’s next opponents in the quarterfinals, the 33-year-old said:
“Maybe Lukaku, because he’s a complete player, as well as Cristiano Ronaldo, who always scores.
“As a centre-forward, Lukaku is more difficult to mark because he has more physique, he has power and is a bit more of a striker.
“Cristiano Ronaldo is the classic forward, but he is more easier to mark than Lukaku.”
It will be a crucial clash between Portugal and Belgium as both teams were tagged as favourites to win the tournament. While Belgium won all their group stage matches with ease and finished at the top of Group B.
Whereas Portugal finished third in Group F, winning only against Hungary and sharing the spoils with France. They were dealt with a heavy 4-2 loss against Germany. Now they will have to step up to the challenge against the Red Devils.
Till now Cristiano Ronaldo is leading the Golden Boot race, having scored five goals in three matches. He scored twice against Hungary, once against Germany and scored two penalties against France. In this process, the Portuguese talisman is currently at par with Ali Daei of Iran, who has scored the most international goals (109).
![EURO 2020. Francesco Acerbi, obrońca reprezentacji Włoch [SYLWETKA]](https://weszlo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/francesco-acerbi-sylwetka-lazio-romelu-lukaku-1-scaled.jpg)
Lukaku plies his trade in Italy for Inter Milan and has been sensational for Roberto Martinez’s men. Lukaku scored twice in their opening fixture against Russia and played a very influential role in their comeback win against Denmark. He then followed it up with another strike against Finland.
Coming to Italy, Acerbi admitted that Roberto Mancini’s side were not at their best against Austria. However, Francesco was happy with the mental strength that the team showed to progress through to the next round.
“We were bad, but also efficient. Austria closed down and maybe we were a bit tense. Maybe we had to dribble a little more at certain times in the match, but this is a game that is won in a dirty way.”
he said.
The Azzurri have now broken an 82-year national record of remaining unbeaten in consecutive 31 games. Their record-breaking run includes 12 consecutive wins from the Nations League draw against the Netherlands. The Italians have kept 11 consecutive clean sheets, and hence it will be difficult to break them down.
