Federico Bernardeschi felt Italy “deserved qualification” to the European Under-21 Championship semi-final and got the better of Germany with “heart.”

The Fiorentina forward scored the only goal of the game in Krakow, seeing the Azzurrini through for Tuesday’s semi-final with Spain.

Federico Bernardeschi felt Italy “deserved qualification” to the European Under-21 Championship semi-final and got the better of Germany with “heart.”

The Fiorentina forward scored the only goal of the game in Krakow, seeing the Azzurrini through for Tuesday’s semi-final with Spain.

“It’s a very emotional moment. I expressed my thoughts in the Press conference yesterday, that wearing this jersey is something very special, so to score such an important goal means a great deal to me,” Bernardeschi told Rai Sport.

“I think people ought to really compliment this squad, because heart keeps you going and there’s no stopping it. We deserved this victory and also had a bit of luck that Denmark won, but I think we earned our qualification during the group phase.”

Lorenzo Pellegrini and Federico Chiesa pressing forced Germany into an error and Bernardeschi pounced for the goal.

“I saw the goalkeeper opening up his legs and then I feel more comfortable with my left foot, so that was fortunate!

“I’ve always said this is a fantastic group. We also know that we’ve achieved nothing yet, that Spain have perhaps been the most impressive side in the tournament so far, but this Italy can fight it out with anyone.

“We are here to work, we want to build for the future and we know it’s difficult, but with these results we can go far. A player has to be at the disposal of the squad, because on his own, he can do nothing.

“When you are fortunate enough to be regularly in the senior Italy squad, you feel the responsibility more when playing for the Under-21s, so I was overjoyed to be called up to this tournament.”

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