European Championships, Italy wins after the fear: in the name of Barella. Albania beat in a comeback after scoring early after 23 seconds
The debut in Dortmund gives the Azzurri a thrilling victory. Albania defeated 2-1 after a "horror" start and the fastest goal in the history of the European Championships. Bastoni and Barella sign the success
ROME – Shock Italy, chic Italy. A beautiful victory after the fear. With another final thrill. This was the debut at the European Championships of the reigning champions Azzurri, who beat Albania 2-1. A result that is close to the convincing and elegant National team of Spalletti, who after a horror start showed off strength and class. Barella has definitely recovered, Chiesa has found his acceleration again, Bastoni has ‘walled’ his opponents and scored, Calafiori showed off personality and construction skills, Scamacca opened up spaces into which Frattesi often entered. The ‘mobile’ 4-3-3 desired by the coach has borne fruit.
After a nightmare start. A crazy throw-in by Dimarco freed Bajrami in the blue area and the Albanian playmaker from Sassuolo left no chance for Donnarumma by kicking hard underneath 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.
Expelled fear, Italy was even more in control of the pitch and came close to scoring the third goal several times. Pellegrini is the protagonist, good at always being found lurking in the area but imprecise in the final thrust, whether with his foot or head. Nothing to be done, but the 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 kept 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 put in their minutes 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: we go to Gelsenkirchen on Thursday, Spain awaits us.