Italy is looking for title retention and to re-instate dominance!
Italy recovered from conceding the fastest goal in the competition’s history to get their defense of the European Championship title off to a winning start on Saturday. They came back to beat Albania 2-1 in front of a partisan crowd.
At the start, it looked like Albania had brought in the biggest upsets early in the tournament, leaving the Italian fans with UEFA Euro 2024 tickets in shock.
But Italy had the composure to win.
Nedim Bajrami stunned the Italians and delighted huge Albanian support in Dortmund as he smashed in the opener after just 23 seconds, his strike pulverizing the previous record for the quickest goal at the Euros of 67 seconds by Dmitri Kirichenko of Russia in 2004.
Yet Italy’s response to falling behind was quick, too. Alessandro Bastoni headed the Azzurri level on 11 minutes, and Nicolo Barella’s glorious effort put them ahead just past the quarter-hour mark.
From then on, Luciano Spalletti’s team looked much more assured, although they really should have won by a greater margin rather than face an anxious finale as Albania pushed for an equalizer.
Their performance—the first 23 seconds apart—was broadly encouraging before an enticing showdown with fellow heavyweights Spain in nearby Gelsenkirchen next Thursday.
Italy will Advance
Whatever happens in that match, Italy is already well-placed to advance to the knockout phase of Euro 2024 from Group B, in which Spain defeated Croatia 3-0 earlier on Saturday in Berlin.
The Azzuri fans with UEFA Euro 2024 tickets won’t need to stress too much in the group stage, with Albania’s result coming their way.
Italy is an unknown quantity coming into this tournament. The reigning champions have also missed the last two World Cups and failed to fully convince during qualifying.
Only five of Italy’s line-up at kick-off started the final of the last Euros three years ago, with a new-look team featuring Bologna center-back Riccardo Calafiori winning just his third cap.
Albania – Marking Milestones
Albania, though, is appearing at just their second major tournament, having also gone to Euro 2016.
The novelty of the experience for them helps explain why the home of Borussia Dortmund was a sea of excitable Albanian fans decked in red and black who made up the vast majority of the crowd.
They could hardly believe it when their team, coached by the Brazilian former Arsenal and Barcelona left-back Sylvinho, opened the scoring almost straight from kick-off.
Italy’s Federico Dimarco took a throw from the left-back position but played it loosely into his box. Bastoni was caught on the back foot, and Bajrami — who plays in Italy for Sassuolo — pounced to control and fire past Gianluigi Donnarumma at the goalkeeper’s near post.
It was a similar start to Italy’s last European Championship match when Luke Shaw put England ahead inside two minutes in the final at Wembley in 2021 before the Azzurri came back to win on penalties.
This time they drew level when Dimarco and Lorenzo Pellegrini played a short corner routine on the left before the latter crossed for Inter Milan centre-back Bastoni to head in at the back post.
Italy had regained their composure and soon went in front on 16 minutes, a Jasir Asani clearance dropping straight to another Inter player in Barella, who made the cleanest of contacts at the edge of the area to send a first-time shot past goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha.
Strakosha then denied Scamacca, while Federico Chiesa curled a wide shot on the hour mark.
Italy then sat back, but Albania did not manage another attempt on target, and the second-lowest-ranked nation in the competition could not find an equalizer despite their best efforts late on.
Serbia FA Charged After Fan Incident
UEFA has charged the Serbian football association after objects were allegedly thrown at England’s Euro 2024 group stage match against Serbia.
Eight fans with UEFA Euro 2024 tickets were temporarily detained following a brawl between Serbia and England fans in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, ahead of Sunday’s game, police said.
The charges include “transmitting a provocative message unfit for a sports event.”
European football’s governing body says its control, ethics, and disciplinary body (CEDB) will decide on the matter soon.
In addition, a UEFA ethics and disciplinary inspector will investigate alleged discriminatory behavior.
Before it got underway, riot police intervened outside a restaurant adorned with Serbian flags.
A video posted on social media showed men throwing chairs at each other.
Seven Serbia supporters and one England fan were detained after the brawl and missed the match, police spokesman Peter Both said.
He added that one fan with UEFA Euro 2024 tickets went to hospital with a head injury but discharged himself to watch the game.
A Serbian fan told the AP news agency that a group of England fans threw glasses and stones.
Frenkie de Jong Misses Out on Euro
Netherlands and Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong has been ruled out of this summer’s European Championship through injury.
De Jong, 27, played just three times for his club after suffering an ankle injury in March.
He was included in Ronald Koeman’s Euro 2024 squad despite struggling with his recovery, and the management hoped that he would recover in time.
Unfortunately, it did not favor the Dutch, as they were compelled to withdraw the midfielder from the squad.
On Tuesday, Atalanta midfielder Teun Koopmeiners was also ruled out after injuring himself in the warm-up before the Netherlands’ 4-0 friendly win against Iceland on Monday evening.
The 26-year-old, who has 21 caps, played 51 games for Atalanta last season as they won the Europa League and finished fourth in Serie A.
Chelsea defender Ian Maatsen, 22, who spent last season on loan at Borussia Dortmund, has been added to the Dutch squad and will travel to Wolfsburg to join them.
The Netherlands begin their Euros campaign on Sunday when they play Poland in Group D at 14:00 BST. They will also face France and Austria in the group stage.
De Jong has played 54 times for his country, scoring twice.
