Roberto Mancini does not fear Wales will be like facing Stoke with Manchester City

Roberto Mancini does not fear a repeat of Manchester City against Stoke when Italy face Wales even though he says they are a typical British team.

Mancini claims Wales have the physicality of a Home Nations side and knows Italy are in for a battle at Rome’s Olympic Stadium on Sunday.

But he does not think today’s group decider will be as physical as his bruising clashes with Stoke under Tony Pulis.

Those clashes were a real eye opener for the suave Mancini and he won just one of his six visits to what was then the Britannia Stadium with City and lost an FA Cup tie early in his reign in 2010.

Mancini laughed when reminded of Stoke and said: "Stoke was a tricky place to go.

"Stoke had a very tough style of play, they were a tough nut to crack.

“But Wales have players like Allen, Bale and James, skilful, qualify players so it will be a difficult match from a physical perspective.

“Wales not only have very good technical players, physically they are a very powerful side.”

Mancini respects Wales because they upset the odds to reach the semi-finals of Euro 2016 and are set to join Italy in the last 16.

“Wales are a very difficult side,” he said. “They are right up there in the world rankings. They are a British team and have a lot of physicality.

“They have got four points already and made it to the last four of the last European Championship.

“We need to play very well to win the game.”

Some Azzurri fans feel it may be easier to reach the final if they finish second in the group and so avoid playing Belgium in the quarter-finals and France in the last four.

Mancini, who has Marco Verratti fit after six weeks out with a knee injury, refuses to get caught up in the various permutations and says his focus is on winning the game.

Mancini can become the first Italy manager since the legendary double World Cup winning coach Vittorio Pozzo in the 1930s to go 30 games unbeaten if they avoid defeat to the Wales.

“It’s important to win the game,” he said. “We don’t have to worry about anything else.

“If we win the group, we will go to London. If we finish second, we will go to Amsterdam. It’s not an issue for us.”