Two Milan Players Advance to Round of 16 of Euro 2016

In two days, the round of 16 for the Euro Cup will begin. On that day, not only will there be some intriguing matches taking place like Italy VS Spain and also some more surprising ones like Northern Ireland VS Wales but both Milan players that were called for international duty, Mattia De Sciglio, and Juraj Kucka will be advancing with their respective national teams.

For Mattia De Sciglio and Italy, the journey to the next round has been relatively straightforward. In Italy’s first match against Belgium, Italy came out energized and focused and thrived off a lazy and underwhelming Belgium to a solid 2-0 win. Matt de Sciglio did not start that game, however; he picked up the pace of the match quickly right as he came on. He did not offer as much as Darmian offensively, but he reinforced Italy’s defense after Belgium introduced width on their right-hand side in the form of Yannick Carrasco.

In the Italy VS Sweden game both teams played sub par but after a fantastic solo run by Eder Citadin Martins, Italy sealed a 1-0 win against the Swedes. Matt De Sciglio was not featured in this game, however; in the Italy VS Ireland game, De Sciglio was handed the starting position on the left-hand side. The one game De Sciglio starts, Italy plays carelessly and recklessly. De Sciglio himself protected Ogbonna well but had a terrible night with the ball. Plenty of bad touches led to a helping of Irish throw-ins.

Unlike the Italians, Kucka and Slovakia scratched their way into the round of 16. In Slovakia’s first game VS Wales, Gareth Bale's free kick coupled with a Robson-Kanu strike outmatched the one goal Slovakia scored. Kucka played decently, he started the match and had an early strike but besides that he was ineffective and thus subbed off.

In Slovakia's next game against Russia Slovakia managed to revitalize their campaign in a 2 - 1 win. Kucka had a quiet outing but rarely put a foot wrong when on the ball.

In Slovakia’s final game, they played against England. The match and result were frustrating for England but not so much for Slovakia. In fact, Slovakia were organized and focused in the back, and that allowed for a scoreless draw between the two sides. Kucka was a bit more dynamic and effective in this game, however; did not have too much of a profound impact.

Now Slovakia and Kucka will play against Germany, a match in which every player needs to play the game of their lives. De Sciglio and Italy will also face a challenging opponent, Spain.

Good luck to our Rossoneri representatives!