In Dortmund, the reigning champions Italy overcame a deficit to defeat tenacious Albania 2-1 in their opening Euro 2024 match.
After only 23 seconds, Nedim Bajrami scored the fastest goal in the history of the European Championship to put Sylvinho’s team up. The holders, who defeated England on penalties to win the championship in 2021, were taken aback.
After taking an unexpected lead, Albania appeared to be in control, but ten minutes later, Lorenzo Pellegrini’s cross to the back post allowed Alessandro Bastoni to lose his opponent and head the ball over Thomas Strakosha and into the net.
After just five minutes, Italy had completely changed the course of the match. Captain Elseid Hysaj gave Nicolo Barella a poor clearing, and Barella scored a lovely second from the boundary of the area.
If Strakosha hadn’t brilliantly deflected Davide Frattesi’s shot onto the post and then blocked Gianluca Scamacca’s attempt with his feet, there might have been more before the half.
An anxious finish to the game resulted from Albania’s ability to contain Italy’s onslaught, which they made up for moving forward.
When former Watford striker Rey Manaj pulled down a long ball, he slipped in behind and had a goal-bound shot that hit Gianluigi Donnarumma and went behind, it was their last serious chance of the match and nearly earned them a point.
Italy head coach Luciano Spalletti:
On conceding the first goal: “You need to acknowledge when you become reckless in pursuing a certain play because at that moment, it’s no longer worth it. The key was to clear that ball because we were trapped in the corner of the field, and we just needed to get it out. They did well many other times to get out of that situation, playing around the perimeter and moving the ball to the other side.”
On the importance of playing more aggressively: “I’m very happy with them. But there are many things to improve because we enjoyed ourselves too much in situations where we needed to be more aggressive. It’s OK to be clean in the build-up; you free the man, and then you go for the kill. Instead, we stayed there, going back to the build-up phase and becoming excellent at managing the ball, which is something we need to work on and do better.”
On Italy’s chances of winning the Euros: “Everyone tells me the same thing, even my current managers. ‘Coach, the important thing is to win. The important thing is to win’. And everyone knows it. Since I started coaching children, (I heard) the important thing is to win’. No, the important thing is to play well because if I’m the national team coach, it’s because my teams… or rather, not to say it. Otherwise, this can be twisted against me…”
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