Cristian Battocchio started Italy Under-21s’ 0-0 draw with Portugal last night but the Azzurrini are fighting to make it through to the knockout stages of the Under-21 European Championships.

The Hornets midfielder played 62 minutes of the stalemate before being replaced by Federico Bernardeschi.

Italy are currently bottom of Group B with one game remaining. They must beat England on Wednesday and hope Sweden fail to defeat Portugal in order to qualify.

Meanwhile, Juan Carlos Paredes’ Copa America campaign is over after Ecuador failed to make it out of their group.

The Watford wing-back started all three of La Tricolor’s matches during the competition, including their 2-1 victory over Mexico on Friday.

The top two sides in each of the three groups automatically qualified for the knockout stages of the competition while the best two third place nations also make it through.

Ecuador did finish third in Group A, behind Chile and Bolivia, but they didn’t advance as Uruguay and Columbia had better records in their respective groups