Reigning champions Italy came from behind to beat plucky Albania 2-1 in their Euro 2024 opener in Dortmund.
The holders – who beat England on penalties to win the tournament in 2021 – were stunned when Nedim Bajrami took advantage of a poor throw-in to put Sylvinho’s side in front with the fastest goal in European Championship history after just 23 seconds.
Albania looked to have the bit between their teeth after taking a shock lead but, 10 minutes later, Alessandro Bastoni lost his marker and guided a header across Thomas Strakosha into the net after Lorenzo Pellegrini’s cross to the back post.
Five minutes afterwards, Italy had turned the game on its head. A weak clearance from captain Elseid Hysaj dropped to Nicolo Barella, who struck a sweet second from the edge of the area.
It might have been more before the break had Strakosha not impressively pushed Davide Frattesi’s shot onto the post and then kept out Gianluca Scamacca’s effort with his feet.
What Albania lacked going forward, they made up for in restricting Italy’s attack, which meant a nervous end to the game.
However, they did have the last meaningful chance of the game, which almost brought a point as former Watford striker Rey Manaj brought down a long ball, nipped in behind and had a goal-bound shot that hit Gianluigi Donnarumma and went behind.
Stats: Story of the match
Spalletti calls for improvement despite opening win
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…”
