Hornets midfielder Cristian Battocchio, who is on a season-long loan at Virtus Entella, helped Italy qualify for the 2015 Euro Under-21 Championships after they defeated Slovakia in a play-off.

The tie was level at 1-1 prior to yesterday’s second leg. Battocchio, who was born in Argentina, played the duration of the contest and helped Italy’s Under-21s complete a 3-1 win.

Federico Bernardeschi, Andrea Belotti and Samuele Longo were on target for the Italians.

In senior action, Daniel Pudil and Matej Vydra were unused substitutes for the Czech Republic last night. The duo watched on as the Czech side defeated Kazakhstan 4-2 in Euro 2016 qualifying group A.