15th June, 2024
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Italy came from behind to defeat Albania 2-1 in a tight contest in their opening game at Euro 2024 in Germany on Saturday.
Italy conceded the fastest goal at the tournament as Albania stunned the defending champions a minute into the game.
It was a catastrophic error from the opponent which had gifted a chance to Nedim Bajrami, who rolled the ball into the back of the net from close range to make it 0-1.
Italy equalised 11 minutes into the match. Alessandro Bastoni ran onto a clever lofted pass from Lorenzo Pellegrini and easily beat the keeper with a header into the roof of the net from close range.
Five minutes later, Italy took the lead again. Nicolo Barella got to the ball on the edge of the box and fired in a first-time shot without any hesitation. The strike was excellent and went inside the left post to make it 2-1.
In the 33rd minute, there was a great first touch by Davide Frattesi after collecting a pass deep into the box. He smashed the ball to the middle of the net, but the keeper made a fantastic reflex save and pushed it onto the post.
In the 40th minute, Thomas Strakosha pulled off a great save to deny Gianluca Scamacca who made himself some space inside the box and unleashed a quick low drive towards the middle of the goal.
One minute into added time a cross fooled the defence and left Rey Manaj with an easy chance inside the box, but he mistimed his shot and sent it just wide of the left post.