Eder’s goal gives Italy a win over Sweden 1-0, sends Italy through to next round

Eder scored a late goal as Italy beat Sweden 1-0 to seal a place in the Euro 2016 knockout stages.

Antonio Conte’s side went into the game knowing that, while a win would guarantee their place in the knockout stages, a draw would also probably suffice, so it was little surprise to see the Italians sit back and try to reduce the space for lone Swedish threat Zlatan Ibrahimovic to operate in during a lacklustre first half.

What looked like an astonishing miss by Ibrahimovic on 72 minutes from just a yard out threatened to be the story of the game, but the assistant referee flagged for a narrow offside decision to spare his blushes.

And, after Marco Parolo had struck the bar for Italy, the game was settled with less than two minutes of normal time remaining when Eder weaved in from the left to create space on the edge of the box and curl a shot into the bottom corner.