Sylvinho says his side are "dreaming" of knockout football in Euro 2024, with everything still to play for in their final group game against Spain on Monday.

Albania have impressed during their previous two games in the so-called 'group of death', having scored early goals to trouble both Italy and Croatia, including netting the quickest goal ever scored at the tournament against the former after just 23 seconds.

Though they went on to lose that match 2-1, the Eagles salvaged a point deep in stoppage time to draw 2-2 with Croatia to give themselves a chance of making the knockout stages of the competition for the first time.

Sylvinho's side are aiming to pull off a shock win when they face Spain, who have already qualified as Group B winners, but the Brazilian believes it is possible.

"Many people five months ago thought that Albania would concede three or four goals and four or five in the next one, and the last match might not even mean anything," Sylvinho said.

"We are all really pleased to be in the Group of Death with something to play for. We're going to go for it.

"We've done everything to get here, we'll try to do something else. We're dreaming and we know it's possible. In 90 minutes, anything can happen."

Italy face Croatia in the other group game, with both sides still in danger of an early exit. If Albania and Croatia both win, it becomes a little harder to separate the two sides in the table.

With so many permutations surrounding the final fixture in the group, fans from all three nations will be eagerly checking in on the other result to see how their team will be affected.

However, Sylvinho said he will not be paying any attention, instead choosing to focus on what Albania can control.

"When you play a game, you try to win it. Even if you're inferior and you're playing a wonderful team, it doesn't matter," he said.

"If we want to get through, we need to beat Spain. It won't be easy. We'll give it a go. We have brave players here who are really ambitious and we're really excited."

Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente insists his side are yet to achieve anything at Euro 2024, despite qualifying for the knockout stages with a game to spare. 

De la Fuente watched on as his side earned their second victory of the tournament against Italy on Thursday, with Riccardo Calafiori's own goal ending the Azzurri's 10-game unbeaten run in the competition. 

The 1-0 triumph in Gelsenkirchen saw La Roja earn a third consecutive victory over Italy for the first time. Spain have also won their first two games at a Euros tournament to nil for just the second time, also doing so in 2016. 

However, De la Fuente knows his side have more to do to lift their third European Championship crown, insisting his players will show humility ahead of facing Albania in Dusseldorf next Monday. 

"We're still a long way off winning the European Championship. We haven't yet achieved anything. Okay, we've won some important matches. We have wonderful prospects," De la Fuente said.

"But football can also be very cruel. So we need to be cautious. We need to be humble. We need to show respect."

For Albania, a last-minute equaliser by Klaus Gjasula against Croatia, making him just the second player to score a goal and an own goal in a single match at the Euros, kept their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages alive. 

The goal marked the first time Albania have scored more than once in a match at a major tournament, and their attacking talents will need to be firing as they aim to penetrate Spain's resolute defence, who in their last game, restricted Italy to just four shots – their fewest at the Euros. 

Head coach Sylvinho is hopeful of masterminding Albania's first victory against La Roja, promising supporters his side will give everything to ensure their memorable journey in Germany continues.

"What I promise to the Albanian people is that we will fight for every point," Sylvinho said.

"Against Spain it will be difficult but we must enjoy these moments."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Albania – Kristjan Asllani

In Albania's first two games against Italy and Croatia, Asllani led the way for his nation in shots attempted (four), shots on target (two), successful passes (91), and passes in the final third (20). 

The Inter midfielder has also created the joint-most chances (three) but is yet to register a goal involvement for Albania. 

Spain – Nico Williams

Williams created the most chances (four) and completed the joint-most dribbles (four) of any Spain player against Italy on matchday two. 

The last Spaniard to create as many chances and complete as many dribbles in the same game at the Euros was Andres Iniesta against Croatia in 2012 (also four for each).

MATCH PREDICTION: SPAIN WIN

La Roja boast an impressive record over their opponents coming into the encounter in Dusseldorf, having won all eight of their previous meetings (31 goals for, three against).

It’s Spain’s best 100% record against any opponent, alongside Liechtenstein and Malta, whom they’ve also faced and beaten on eight occasions.

Spain will also be looking to maintain their perfect start to the competition heading into the last 16, and a win will see them win their opening three games at the Euros for the second time after 2008, an edition where they would go on to claim their maiden title. 

However, Albania will be hoping to start well and make it count this time around. Sylvinho's side have netted the opening goal in each of their two group games but are yet to win (one draw, one loss). No nation has ever scored first in three European Championship games in a row and failed to win any of them.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Albania – 16.7%

Draw – 21.6%

Spain – 61.7%

Luciano Spalletti hopes Italy can use their title of reigning champions to their advantage when they open their Euro 2024 campaign against Albania on Saturday.

The Azzurri secured Euro 2020 glory by upsetting England on home soil with a 3-2 win on penalties following a 1-1 draw to win their second European title.

After Roberto Mancini's shock departure last year, Spalletti stepped into his shoes, qualifying for Euro 2024, and he is confident they have what it takes to win the tournament for the second time in a row.

"It feels like heaven to be in situations like these," Spalletti told UEFA.com. "Matches come and go. These tournaments are really important, and this is why we need to be prepared for everything; as we say in our anthem, 'We are ready to die' for these matches.

"In my opinion, coming into the tournament as defending champions is an advantage. But we need to understand straight away that we need to behave like defending champions. We will only see whether or not we are up to the task during the matches.

"In a way, we are facing ourselves, not the outside world. We need to show what we are made of, to show what we have inside."

Albania, meanwhile, are making just their second appearance at the Euros, and their first since 2016 when they were knocked out in the group stage.

After topping a qualifying group including the Czech Republic and Poland, the Eagles have now been drawn into the 'group of death', also containing Spain and Croatia, but Sylvinho remains optimistic about their chances.

"We do all of this together and understand what we're all after," Sylvinho told UEFA.com. "We've achieved things, we've made it to the Euros: that's some feat.

"We've got this far, we know our size, we're improving. It's set to be a real challenge. However, we'll knuckle down to work.

"The games will be fantastic but hard, and if we're able to overcome our opponents, we want to keep going. We're doing well, but if we can take another step forward, then even better."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Italy – Nicolo Barella

Barella registered more assists than any other Italy player during Euro 2024 qualifying (three) and created seven more chances than any other Italian player (15). Barella also assisted two goals during Italy's victorious Euro 2020 campaign. The Azzurri will be hoping he can get fit in time to start the tournament.

Albania – Jasir Asani

Asani was Albania's joint-top goalscorer during Euro 2024 qualifying, scoring three times (level with Nedim Bajrami). All three of his strikes were scored from outside the box.

MATCH PREDICTION: ITALY WIN

This will be Italy and Albania's first encounter at a major tournament. Italy have won all four of their previous meetings with Albania (seven goals for, one against), which have all taken place since 2014.

Italy have not conceded more than one goal in a match across their last two Euros participations, in 2016 and 2020: that is a total of six goals conceded across their last 12 matches in the competition.

Italy's 45 matches at the Euros have produced 1.84 goals on average (52 for, 31 against) – it is the lowest ratio amongst any of the 25 teams to have taken part in 10+ matches in the competition.

This is just Albania's second appearance at a major international tournament after Euro 2016 – their sole victory in this competition came against Romania in the final group match that year (1-0).

Indeed, after losing their first Euro 2024 qualifier against Poland, Albania did not lose any of their next seven (W4 D3).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Italy – 66.3%

Draw – 19.6%

Albania – 14.2%

Albania coach Sylvinho looked up to Arsene Wenger as his inspiration, while he hailed Pep Guardiola as a "genuis".

Sylvinho did not have much success during spells in charge of Lyon in France and Corinthians in his homeland of Brazil, but has excelled in his first job as a national team manager.

He took over Albania's national team at the start of 2023, and guided them to the Euro 2024 qualification. It is just the second time the Balkan nation have progressed to the finals of UEFA's flagship competition, and his efforts saw him rewarded with the Golden Decoration of the Eagle by Albania's prime minister.

Sylvinho lost just one of his opening eight games as Albania coach, with that defeat coming in his first match against Poland, though his side did slip to a 3-0 friendly defeat to Chile on Friday.

His success, though, should perhaps not come as a surprise given who the 49-year-old played under during his time at Arsenal and then Barcelona.

Sylvinho said to Stats Perform: "Outside Brazil, my first manager was Arsene Wenger. I learnt a lot from him, he was a person of a very high level in terms of management, education, football and vision. 

"I had the chance to work with [Frank] Rijkaard at Barcelona, he's a great manager too. I finished the 2008-2009 season with a treble and [Pep] Guardiola was the coach. 

"He was another coach I learnt a lot from. He's a genius. He's different. And you learn a lot from him too."

Before moving to Europe, Sylvinho spent time with Corinthians, where he developed under Nelsinho Baptista and Vanderlei Luxemburgo.

Sylvinho added: "Nelsinho Baptista was a coach I worked with for a while at Corinthians. He was a very competitive coach, with a great sense of humour and a very serious line-up, as was his entire career. 

" In 1998, we were Brazilian champions and made a leap forward technically as a team, and I also saw myself in one of the best moments of my time as a professional footballer.

"Vanderlei Luxemburgo was our coach. We had a very technical team, very well-adjusted on the pitch, and very well-coordinated."