European Championships, Italy wins after the fear: in the name of Barella

The debut in Dortmund gives the Azzurri a thrilling victory. Albania defeated in comeback after conceding a goal after 23 seconds

ROME – Shock Italy, chic Italy. A beautiful victory after the fear. With another final thrill. This was the debut at the European Championships reigning champions of the Azzurri, who beat Albania 2-1. A result that is close to the convincing and elegant national team Spalletti, which after a horror start showed strength and class. Definitely recovered Stretcher, Church has found its acceleration again, Sticks he ‘blocked’ his opponents and scored, Calafiori showed personality and construction skills, Scamacca it opened up spaces where Frattesi he often slipped in. The ‘mobile’ 4-3-3 desired by the coach has borne fruit.

After a nightmare start. A crazy throw-in by Marco’s in fact he freed Bajrami in the blue area and the Albanian playmaker from Sassuolo left no chance Donnarumma kicking hard under the crossbar. Twenty-three seconds. The fastest goal in the history of the European Championships. The fans were in disbelief and paralyzed, but fortunately not the players. Who were able to react immediately and, after immediately coming close to equalizing with Pellegrini, they overturned the result in five minutes: first Bastoni headed a perfect cross from the Italian number 10, then Barella with a right-footed counter-jump from the edge.
Once the fear was dispelled, Italy was even more in control of the pitch and came close to scoring the third goal several times. Hero Pilgrims, good at always being found lurking in the area but imprecise in the final thrust, be it with the foot or the head. Nothing to do, but a record had already been achieved: it was the first time that the Azzurri scored two goals in the first half in a match in the group stage of a European Championship.

In the second half the pace dropped, but the Azzurri clearly maintained the ball and the initiative, without running any particular dangers. Scamacca and Chiesa actually tried to close out the match, and the Juventus player in particular would have really deserved a goal which instead he only came close to with a left-footed shot just wide. Spalletti sent fresh forces onto the field: Cambiaso, Cristante, Darmian, Retegui and Folorunsho they put minutes into their legs but were unable to restart the rhythm. And after the initial fear, there was also the final scare for Italy, with Donnarumma protagonist of a saving parade. So that’s fine. Fifth victory in as many matches for Italy against Albania and Dortmund who confirmed themselves as ‘friends’. But now it’s time to look ahead: Thursday we go to Gelsenkirchen, Spain awaits us.