England tried to 'pull a Chelsea', claims Diamanti

Italy midfielder Alessandro Diamanti has criticised England's defensive approach to the two sides' Euro 2012 quarter-final on Sunday evening, claiming that they tried to "pull a Chelsea". 

Cesare Prandelli's team eventually won 4-2 on penalties after being held to a 0-0 draw for 120 minutes, despite squandering a number of chances before the shoot-out.

 And the 29-year-old was quick to compare the Three Lions' performance to the ultra-defensive displays against Barcelona and Bayern Munich which recently led the Blues to Champions League success. 

England wanted to pull a Chelsea," he said. "They failed. We knew that they were going to wait for us and try to hurt us on the break, but we came here to play our game. 

The important thing was to have possession of the ball and win with our style. We should have won the match during regular time, but wasted so many chances. 

In the end, we won deservedly, even if it was on penalties." Diamanti went on to explain that Prandelli told him to express himself in any way he wished as he entered the field on 78 minutes. 

When the coach sent me on, he told me 'go and do what you like,' and well, I did. 

I scored the decisive penalty," he added. He then concluded by assessing his side's chances against Germany in the semi-final: Germany are a good team, a team with top players, but we can win, this team is made for that. We are not afraid of anyone. 

Italy will play Germany in the last four in Warsaw on Thursday evening, with kick-off at 20.45 CET.

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