DEFENDING CHAMPIONS ITALY COME FROM BEHIND TO WIN

Italy won their first game in the defence of their European Championship despite Albania taking an early lead in Dortmund.

LINEUPS

ITA XI: Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo, Calafiori, Bastoni, Dimarco, Barella, Jorginho, Frattesi, Pellegrini, Chiesa, Scamacca

ITA SUBS:: Buongiorno, Gatti, Raspadori, Vicario, Darmian, Bellanova, Cristante, Mancini, Retegui, Zaccagni, Fagioli, El Shaarawy, Cambiaso, Folorunsho, Meret.

ALB XI: Strakosha, Hysaj, Ajeti, Djimsiti, Mitaj, Asllani, Ramadani, Bajrami, Asani, Broja, Seferi

ALB SUBS: E Berisha, Balliu, Manaj, Gjasula, Kastrati, Mihaj, Laçi, Medon M Berisha, Muçi, Ismajli, Daku, Abrashi, Kumbulla, Aliji, Hoxha

Action: Albania couldn't have hoped for a better start to their campaign after taking the lead just over 20 seconds into the game.

Federico Dimarco's poor throw-in ended up going directly to Nedim Bajrami and the Sassuolo forward took full advantage of the mistake and fired an effort past Gianluigi Donnarumma to record the fastest goal ever in a European Championship.

However, after that dream start to the game for Albania, Italy were back on level terms just 10 minutes later.

Albania will not be happy with how they conceded this goal: a short corner routine and then a cross that Alessandro Bastoni was able to head in from close range. Sylvinho's side really should have defended better. 

The comeback was completed just five minutes later. This time it was a ball bouncing towards Nicolò Barella on the edge of the area. The Internazionale midfielder flung a leg at it and saw the ball find the corner of the net past the reach of Thomas Strakosha.

Italy were on top after that with Davide Frattesi having a great chance to make it 3-1 but he saw his chipped effort hit the post after receiving a pass from Gianluca Scamacca. 

Luciano Spalletti's side were dominant for most of the game and looked to wrap up the victory with a third goal in the second half. Meanwhile, Albania resorted to long balls over the top for Armando Broja to run onto it but it was a technique that simply wasn't working. 

When that technique did work it came late on, this time to substitute Rey Manaj who managed to get a shot away that was stopped by Donnarumma and an Albanian corner wasn't given.

That was the last chance of the game as Italy hung on to begin the defence of their title with a win.

Man of the match: Federico Chiesa. A constant problem for Albania throughout the game with Italy looking toothless after the forward was replaced.

Big picture: Italy looked good for the majority of the game but it will be interesting to see how they do when going up against far more difficult opposition in Croatia and Spain. Albania meanwhile showed that they may be a difficult prospect for the rest of the group.

Expected goals: Italy (1.94) 2-1 (0.43) Albania

EVENTS

Kick-off

’1 | GOAL: Bajrami (0-1)

’11 | GOAL: Bastoni (1-1)

'16 | GOAL: Barella (1-1)

Half-time

-

Full-time

2024-06-15T21:10:40Z dg43tfdfdgfd