Good first one! The European ChampionshipItaly start on the right foot, that is, with one victory over Albania (2-1, goal by Sticks e Stretcher to overturn that of bajrami) which is worth second place in the group, awaiting the direct clash with Spain next Thursday which could decide the first. A success against Red FuriesYesterday devastating against Croatia (3-0, goals from Morata, Fabian Ruiz and Carvajal), would take us to the round of XNUMX with a round to spare, even as first if Croatia failed to beat Albania: calculations to be made in a few days, but made possible from what happened yesterday, where Italy won and convinced with a great first half and a second of pure management.
Italy – Albania 2-1: shock start for the Azzurri, then Bastoni and Barella take care of it
Victory had to be and victory it was, despite the worst possible start. Ready go andAlbania is already ahead with Bajrami, but the goal must at least be shared with Dimarco, author of a horror throw-in that sends the opponent into the goal. The Sassuolo attacking midfielder enters the history of the European Championships for the fastest goal ever (23 seconds), but the data, fortunately for us, remains an end in itself.
Italy, in fact, he doesn't get anxious and throws herself into the Albanian half of the field with the desire to put things right, dragged by the Inter core (apart from Dimarco), by a lively Chiesa and by a Calafiori in Champions format. Sticks chase away ghosts taking advantage of a nice assist from Pellegrini (11'), Barella completes the comeback five minutes later with a great right that chills Strakosha (18'). The first half for the Azzurri, apart from the start, is of a high level and if the score remains stuck at 2-1 it is only thanks to the Albanian goalkeeper, who was decisive both on Frattesi (deflection off the post) and on Scamacca (stopped from a few steps away), but also due to Pellegrini's inaccuracy, wasting his head despite his excellent position. The third goal only seems to have been postponed until the second half, but instead Italy, after coming close to it with Chiesa, loses its brilliance and dangerously lowers its center of gravity.
Spalletti waits for the 77th minute to do so the first changes (in Cristante and Cambiaso instead of Pellegrini and Chiesa, then Retegui, Darmian and Folorunsho for Scamacca, Dimarco and Barella), but the moves do not change the inertia of the match, in the balance until the end. And so, as often happens, a hitherto evanescent Albania finds itself there equalizing ball in the 91st minute, foiled by an excellent (and lucky) intervention by Donnarumma, decisive on Manaj.
From Dortmund, in addition to the result, we need to take home the reaction of the first half, in which we saw so much quality, while the management of the second half needs to be reviewed at least: on Thursday against Spain, in fact, the bar will be decidedly higher and the margin of error is almost zero.
Spalletti half satisfied: "We were comfortable rather than mean and mangy"
“They saw each other many good things which however must lead to something, otherwise they are ends in themselves and are of no use - the analysis of Spalletti -. We didn't hit as well as we could, we were a bit comfortable doing things instead of being a bad and mangy national team. The beginning was difficult, but the boys had a way of deal with the situation which I really liked, we are a team that divides the good and less good things equally. When we managed to get to the attacking midfield, we had the opportunity to pass the ball to the opposite attacking midfielder, but there was a bit of malice missing. We will try to do better and better, but I'm happy with what we showed today even if we could have won better. We have to be careful because we always have a 'bischerata' in store."
