EURO2024
Early shock, success at the end: Italy overcomes first hurdle
Italy’s Nicolò Barella (2nd from left) is cheered by his teammates after his goal to make it 2-1. Photo
© Friso Gentsch/dpa
Defending champion Italy completely missed the start of the European Championship against Albania and was behind after 22 seconds. After that, however, the Azzurri lived up to their role as favorites – despite the heated crowd.
On Thursday, Italy will face Spain, which also got off to a good start in the European Championship with a 3-0 win against Croatia. Croatia and Albania, on the other hand, are already under pressure in their direct duel on Wednesday.
Italy completely dominated the underdog in front of 60,512 spectators in the sold-out Dortmund stadium and only made one mistake immediately after kick-off. After a series of errors in the defense of the four-time world champions, Nedim Bajrami (1st minute) scored the fastest goal in European Championship history after 22 seconds to give them the lead to great acclaim. Alessandro Bastoni (11th) and Nicolò Barella (16th) turned the game around, but the Italians missed numerous chances to make it 3-1.
Three years after winning the European Championship and a good two years after missing out on the 2022 World Cup, the Azzurri are once again dreaming of their dream destination Berlin. In the Olympic Stadium, where Italy won the Olympic gold medal in 1936 and the world championship in 2006, coach Luciano Spalletti’s team wants to successfully defend their title in the final on July 14. “These are the goosebumps moments and the emotions that are worth living for,” enthused Italy’s delegation leader Gianluigi Buffon, referring to the 2006 World Cup win.
1069 days after the triumph at Wembley, the European Championships got off to a very bad start for the defending champions. After a sloppy throw-in by Inter pro Federico Dimarco, the Italian defense was briefly disorientated. Bajrami grabbed the ball and smashed it into the goal for an early 1-0 lead.
The midfielder sent the tens of thousands of Albanian fans in the stands into complete ecstasy with the fastest goal in European Championship history. Hours before the match, the underdog’s fans had already celebrated the small country’s second participation in the European Championship after 2016 with car convoys in the city center of Dortmund.
The favorites got over the early shock well and immediately regained control. After ten minutes, defender Bastoni scored to make it 1-1, and five minutes later his Inter colleague Barella increased the score to 2-1. The important midfielder had been struggling with a muscle injury in recent days and had only recovered shortly before the start of the European Championship. Barella’s goal was briefly checked by the video assistant, but here too, as with most decisions, the German referee Felix Zwayer was correct.
Italy was now clearly superior. Davide Frattesi hit the post with a shot (33′), Gianluca Scamacca (40′) and Lorenzo Pellegrini (45’+2) missed the chance to make it 3-1.
The Albanians, who had at least beaten the Czech Republic and Poland in qualifying, lacked the means and courage to come close to Italy’s captain Gianluigi Donnarumma’s goal more often. However, every attempt at goal was enthusiastically cheered by the Albanian fans.
And because Italy also missed the decisive third goal in the second half, the match remained exciting until the end. In the 90th minute, Donnarumma prevented Rey Manaj from making it 2-2 and saved the defending champions’ victory.