Locatelli brace eases Italy into Euro knockouts

Manuel Locatelli bagged a brace of goals for the first time in his career as imperious Italy defeated Switzerland 3-0 at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday to become the first side into the last-16 of the European Championship.

Midfielder Locatelli, 23, opened the scoring with a simple tap-in following Sassuolo team mate Domenico Berardi’s excellent run down the right wing, before he rifled a shot into the bottom corner of the net from the edge of the box early in the second half.

Ciro Immobile added a late third to secure back-to-back 3-0 wins for Italy in the tournament, which extends their unbeaten run to 29 games, the last 10 of which have been victories where they have scored 31 goals and conceded none.

Italy lead Group A with six points after two rounds of matches and are ahead of Wales (four), Switzerland (one) and Turkey (zero). They can seal top spot with a draw in their final pool game against Wales on Sunday.