Attack holds key to Ukraine hopes

Ukraine's challenge going into their final Group D match is a simple one. The tournament co-hosts need to win against England to advance to the UEFA EURO 2012 quarter-finals, the very same challenge they faced, incidentally, in their last home game of 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying back in October 2009.

Nearly three years on and some 250km further eastwards, what else has changed? The answer is, not much in the Ukraine squad – 11 players (and four of the substitutes) from that 1-0 victory against England on the bank of Dnipro are still in the Ukraine squad and busy preparing amid the slag heaps of Donetsk for tomorrow's big match.

Relieved Italy ready for next challenge

There was a sense of relief in the Italy squad as they qualified for the quarter-finals, but also a sense of a job well done after Antonio Cassano and Mario Balotelli struck unanswered goals against the Republic of Ireland. Three Azzurri players spoke to UEFA.com at the Municipal Stadium Poznan.

Daniele De Rossi, Italy midfielder

Everything worked out well. We said many times that we had to focus on our own game and if we did we would qualify, as we knew that Spain would play like they did and beat Croatia. We've seen that it was also difficult for them. However, we struggled in this game, perhaps more than the previous two. We couldn't find any space as they closed it down well.