The adventure of Italy, the reigning champions, at the 2024 European Championships had begun in the worst possible way. The full-back Federico Di Marco he immediately missed a defensive throw-in by passing the ball to Nedim Bajrami in the blue area. Shot and goal after 23 seconds of play, the Albanian midfielder of Sassuolo scored the fastest goal ever scored in the final phase of the European Championships, beating the Russian’s record Dmitri Kirichenkowhich against the Greece in 2004 he scored after 67 seconds.
And who knows if it’s a good sign: Greece finally won those European Championships, against all odds, beating Portugal in the final Luis Figo, Rui Costa and a very young man Cristiano Ronaldo.
Once the initial shock was over, Italy recovered. He immediately created a great opportunity to equalize, closed with a bad shot Lorenzo Pellegriniand shortly after he actually equalized, with a header of Alessandro Bastoni on a corner kick play in the 11th minute. A handful of minutes pass and the second goal arrives, with a great shot from outside Nicolò Barella (increased to 10 goals for the national team).
Even after overturning the result, the national team did not stop insisting, keeping the ball, looking for spaces and insertions against aAlbania – in its second participation in the final phase of the European Championships – always remained very closed but ready to start again on the counterattack. At 34th Davide Frattesiserved very well by Gianluca Scamacca, hit the post a few steps from the goalkeeper.
Luciano Spalletti gives directions during Italy-Albania – Ansa
After a first half played at a high pace, with a lot of high pressing and several good scoring opportunities, Italy returned from the locker room with less verve: few ideas, less fluidity in the passes, few opportunities to score. Albania continued to remain closed trying to get some opportunities with long balls towards the attackers, but ended the match with little effect until the 90th minute, when they came close to equalizing with an action of Rey Manaj, poorly controlled by the blue defense, which lined up in the center Alessandro Bastoni and the young man Riccardo Calafiori.
The victory puts Italy in first place group Bon a par with the Spainwho however have a better goal difference after beating them 3-0 Croatia in the debut match. Spain, one of the favorites for the title, will be Italy’s next opponent: the Spain-Italy match will be played at 9pm on Thursday 20 June at Veltins-Arena Of Gelsenkirchenthe home of Schalke 04.
