Euro 2024: Holders Italy survive early scare to beat Albania

Well, Mark, you have to say fair play to Albania because, you know, scoring a goal against the reigning champions, but it was soon restored to par, right? and Italy got the result they wanted, yes, yes, it's great to see that he was enjoying watching. That goes to 23 seconds in only Albania's second appearance at the European Championship. After 2016, they failed to leave the group. During that competition. Not many people would have given them a chance because look at the group they are in. It seems incredibly difficult to get out and the fact that they scored 23 seconds in last night is an achievement in itself because they had only scored once in a major tournament before yesterday and that was a pretty significant goal 23 seconds off the record they had before.

That was actually 67 seconds and that was also done in 2004. It's pretty amazing. I don't think that record of 23 will ever be broken. The goal that was scored in 67 seconds was by Dimitri Kirichenko for Russia against Greece at the 2004 Euros, so, barami, I think we'll have that record for a while. Well, yes, despite the great start, it wasn't the result they would have hoped for, but it's still something to build on with a little positivity and, as you saw. According to the clip, they also came very close to scoring the equalizer, so yeah, it's definitely interesting to see how Albania does, they came close to scoring the equalizer, so what does that say about Italy, the defending champions?

They seemed a little nervous at times. Weren't you a little nervous? They are not at their best. But it is a very different Italian team than what we expected. When it comes to major tournaments, they go through a transition period. At this point, of course, Roberto Manini has left to go manage in the Saudi professional league, so there is a bit of a change regarding the coach. Obviously, the arrival of Luciano Spalti has tried to change the style slightly and The reason we have this 1.84 here is goals per game in the Euro Cup. Historically, you would see that Italy is a very solid defense and hardworking defensively.

You pick me for that defensive-minded side, where they were almost being solid. You don't concede a goal, you try to win the game one to zero. You don't see many exciting games with Italy. They are always very tactical. You always see their defenders high-fiving each other when clearing the ball or blocking a shot. It is not like this? they are known for that that is what they love they love to keep a clean sheet they love to be solid defensively before yesterday's match Italy's 45 matches in the European Championship had produced 1.84 goals between both teams on average in 45 matches in the Euro Cup, which is the lowest proportion of any of the 25 five teams that have participated playing 10 or more games, so the fact that you scored three goals in 16 minutes I think that tells you a little bit about how they have gone maybe not at all.

A defensive-minded team but they will go forward and attack as well, so yes, I think it is quite interesting, although the fact that they got the result in the end and showed some good defensive qualities shows that they still have a bit of steel. and defensive mentality attributes within that team, yes, very interesting in things, they also had a lot of injuries that they had to deal with as a couple of players that also retired, so it is a very transitional team, but the only thing What matters is the first game of the group. three points on the board and that's what spetti has done