Brazilian-born striker Eder has fired Italy into the knockout stages of Euro 2016 with a brilliant late solo-goal to seal the three points in a drab affair in Toulouse.
The Inter Milan forward on-loan from Sampdoria has had his place in the Azzurri squad questioned due to his non-Italian country of birth, but he silenced those critics on Friday afternoon.
“I think this is needless controversy, this is all in the past,” he said addressing the criticism surrounding his legitimacy in the squad.
“First and foremost I am pleased for all my teammates and the entire squad because I know how hard we have worked for the European Championships.”
“I dedicate the goal to the entire squad, everyone from first to last that has worked for us over the qualification period and now.”
The 29-year-old said he’s worked incredibly hard to fight for his place in the Italian squad, with his selection in the starting eleven for both games thus far coming ahead of the likes of Ciro Immobile, Stefan El Shaarawy and Lorenzo Insigne.
“Towards the end of the season when I didn’t play much for Inter I trained on my own at home to be ready for Euro 2016,” he said.
“When you work very hard you make a lot of sacrifices, you always get happiness and success.”
It was a game that failed to reach any great heights in Toulouse with Italy only really gaining any ascendancy in the last 20 minutes as the superior outfit, with Sweden failing to register a single shot on goal for the match and the entire tournament.
#Chiellini: "#Eder showed everyone that he's not here by chance; I'm really happy for him and about the victory." #ItalySweden #ITASWE
— Italy (@azzurri) June 17, 2016
Eder said Italy found it tough against a different type of opposition to that of Belgium.
“They had two banks of four and they always push up on you and cause problems,” he said.
“Occasionally we prepare things but because of the opposition we’re not able to implement, we really struggled in the first half.”
“During the half-time break the coach asked us to play a bit more with more width.”
“We all fight for the same cause. Even those who are playing five minutes or 90 minutes.”
What are your thoughts? Let us know by dropping a comment below via our Facebook comment box. Make sure you follow us on Twitter @Outside90 and like us on Facebook.
