Coach Gigi Di Biagio insisted he’d “play the same way, but with a bit more pace” after Italy’s 3-1 defeat to the Czech Republic, as he felt they "deserved a victory."

The Azzurrini beat Denmark 2-0 in their opener, but were badly caught out at the back and missed some sitters today, meaning even a victory over Germany in the final group game might not be enough to continue in the Under-21 European Championship.

Coach Gigi Di Biagio insisted he’d “play the same way, but with a bit more pace” after Italy’s 3-1 defeat to the Czech Republic, as he felt they "deserved a victory."

The Azzurrini beat Denmark 2-0 in their opener, but were badly caught out at the back and missed some sitters today, meaning even a victory over Germany in the final group game might not be enough to continue in the Under-21 European Championship.

“It’s easy to talk afterwards,” Di Biagio said in his Press conference when pressed about making four changes to the starting XI.

“I had to evaluate many things, work out some squad rotation. The result makes the difference, but it’s a game we could’ve won. I’d play the same way, but with a bit more pace in our build-up.

“The changes were because some hadn’t recovered fully and others had physical problems. Aside from that, I think you don’t go far in this sort of tournament without squad rotation.

“Obviously when you lose such an important game, you have to take responsibility and I made the decisions. I never let myself get influenced by results. It’s true this particular result complicates our journey, but we’ll do everything to get through.”

Italy had been dominating after Domenico Berardi’s equaliser, but Andrea Petagna missed a sitter and moments later the Czechs restored their lead against the run of play.

“It goes without saying that made the difference, but I wouldn’t spend too much time dwelling on that. We started very well and perhaps that made us think it would be easy. Instead it was a game we had to approach with the utmost effort.

“We did well to get it back on track and had several other goal-scoring opportunities, but that’s not enough to win games.”

Gianluigi Donnarumma was slow to get down to all three goals, so could the recent Milan contract dispute have affected the 18-year-old’s performance?

“In our line of work, transfer rumours are normal and cannot affect players of the level we’ve got in the squad. Having said that, we’re not accustomed to conceding three goals. We above all conceded them with shots from distance on rapid counter-attacks after our distractions.

“It’s difficult to talk after such a negative result, but I can say we’ll try to do it to the end. It is our duty and we are convinced that we can still do it. I remain confident, despite everything.

“When I was asked if this was the strongest Under-21 squad of the last 20 years, I said yes, and I haven’t changed my opinion. The players must have the strength to wear that badge and not see it as a weakness.”

Could Italy change to a 4-2-3-1 formation rather than Di Biagio’s favoured 4-3-3? This would also enable on-form Federico Chiesa to start.

“Aside from the system, we need to be more determined and incisive. Today not everyone ran in the correct and co-ordinated manner we had planned, but we still managed to get an extremely difficult match back on track and in the end deserved a victory.

“Obviously when you miss a clear goal, it makes everything more difficult.”

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