soccer120: ITALY

Italy coach Antonio Conte was left with a bloodied nose and a headache as the Azzurri camp wildly celebrated their opening goal against Belgium at EURO 2016.

The Azzuri stunned Belgium by scoring first through Emanuele Giaccherini in the 32nd minute, sending their bench into raptures.

Italian manager Antonio Conte gets a bloody nose celebrating his teams first goal. https://t.co/LPv9WygLei
— Faizal Khamisa (@SNFaizalKhamisa) June 13, 2016

But the aggressive celebrations came at a cost for Chelsea-bound Conte, who was soon clutching at his face, as blood poured from his nose.

But with Italy now in a powerful position after a 2-0 win - that was sealed late on by Graziano Pelle's volley - at the top of Group E, after Sweden's surprise draw with Ireland, it must be said that this is one injury Conte will be happy to tolerate.

Italy meets Sweden in their next EURO 2016 outing on Friday night, with a win sealing Conte's men a place in the round of 16.

Title hopefuls Belgium fall to defeat against Italy

Italy sprung a surprise in Group E by beating Belgium as EURO 2016's highest-ranked nation fell to a 2-0 loss in Lyon.

Marc Wilmots' side, who sit second in the FIFA rankings, had been considered by many as favourites to prevail in France, but they have work to do following Monday's damaging defeat.

Emanuele Giaccherini opened the scoring with a superb two-touch finish following a stunning pass from Leonardo Bonucci.

Italy should have been two up before the break, but an unmarked Graziano Pelle contrived to send a close-range header wide.

Belgium – in their first appearance at the Euros since co-hosting the tournament in 2000 – spurned a glorious chance to make Antonio Conte's men pay when Romelu Lukaku squandered a one-on-one opportunity in the 53rd minute, with Thibaut Courtois denying Pelle a couple of minutes later.

Wilmots sent on Dries Mertens and Divock Origi – the latter for a disappointing Lukaku – during a second half in which Belgium showed substantially more promise, only for Pelle to volley a second on the break deep into stoppage time.

Belgium sit bottom of the group following Republic of Ireland's 1-1 draw with Sweden