Baines braced for Azzurrini battle

Leighton Baines is preparing himself for a "massive game" when England meet Italy at the Gelredome this evening, with the last meeting between the teams promising an exciting encounter.

'Lifted our spirits'
Group B favourites going into the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, England and Italy both endured below-par starts to their campaigns. Stuart Pearce's team squandered a late penalty as they were held to a goalless draw by the Czech Republic, a disappointment that was alleviated slightly on the return to their team hotel where they caught the end of the Azzurrini's 1-0 defeat by Serbia. "Watching the Italy game and seeing them lose probably lifted spirits a little bit because we fancied they'd be our main rivals in the group," said Baines. "We've still got a great opportunity to go on and qualify."

Encouragement
They must first negotiate Pierluigi Casiraghi's talented side. The Serbia defeat was a heavy blow for the five-time champions but in truth, they created enough chances to have given the scoreline a very different complexion. They will also be buoyed by the three goals they scored – all from Giampaolo Pazzini – in an absorbing 3-3 draw between the teams at Wembley in March. Yet Wigan Athletic FC left-back Baines, who produced a stunning strike against Germany in the play-offs to set England on course for the finals, also takes heart from that performance, saying: "Italy are known for being strong defensively but we scored three goals against them last time, as they did to us, so we'll both take encouragement from that.

Cool climate
"We know what a good team they are and how difficult it will be to beat them but if we win we can put a good team out of the competition and that's a good incentive. It's going to be a massive game." Hopefully for England it will also be a cooler game as Baines admits a few of the side struggled with the humidity of late-afternoon Arnhem on Monday, and with the Italy match taking place a couple of hours later it could help Pearce's players. "It's a plus that the game will be played slightly later on," he said. "Hopefully conditions will be slightly favourable for us and we'll be able to get at Italy. The Czechs made it really difficult by getting numbers behind the ball [but] the Italians are more likely to come at us which will give us a bit more licence to hit them on the counterattack."