Italy have started this European Championship with two records – one negative and one positive. National coach Luciano Spalletti also recognized the good and the bad
With 22 seconds played, the Italian national team’s sporting world was a dark one: after a disastrous throw-in by Federico Dimarco, the score was immediately 0:1, Albania’s Nedim Bajrami scored under the crossbar with the fastest European Championship goal in history.
However, the Squadra Azzurra quickly recovered from this poor start, the “madness of Dimarco” (Tuttosport) or “shock start” (Corriere della Sera), dominated, deservedly turned the game around to 2:1 – which was also the final score – and secured an important opening three points as defending champions. All good then? Not at all
“It was a strange start, conceding a goal after 22 seconds could really hurt the players mentally,” said Nicolo Barella, who had only just recovered from muscle problems to make it 2-1, on the Sky Sport Italia microphone, also mentioning the fact that he and his colleagues had missed the 3-1 on several occasions and had trembled again towards the end of the game. “We should have scored more goals. As long as there’s only a one-goal difference, it’s dangerous. But in the end, we scored one more goal than our opponents and laid the foundations for a successful tournament.”
Although coach Luciano Spalletti himself recognized the positive aspects of this opening victory, he was much clearer about the critical areas in his comments to RAI Sport: “We saw some good things – but only some of them. It could have gone wrong a few times. Sometimes we were a bit too comfortable.” He would have liked to have seen more concentration, both up front and at the back.
And Federico Chiesa, who was named player of the match by UEFA, did not simply tick off Italy’s fourth consecutive opening win at a major tournament – a new national record – as “job done” after beating England 2-1 (World Cup 2014), Belgium 2-0 (Euro 2016) and Turkey 3-0 (Euro 2021). Rather, the 26-year-old Juve professional recalled the tight 2021 European Championship final against England (3:2 on penalties): “I had flashbacks during today’s game. We dominated against England back then and now against Albania.” But he had just forgotten the preliminary decision: “We have to decide these games earlier, we have to improve. “
Even more so because next Thursday they face Spain, who beat Croatia 3-0. Spalletti: “Spain will play differently to Albania and put us under more pressure.” More speed and better, smarter decisions are needed