The UEFA Euro 2020 has finally started and Italy begins the tournament in a formidable way: the team coached by Roberto Mancini beats Turkey 3-0 in the inaugurational match without any difficulties.
The italian team started playing offensively from the very beginning, the first chance, instead, arrived twenty minutes later when Giorgio Chiellini’s header was saved by Cakir after a corner kick (22′). Even though the Azzurri kept attacking and dominated the game with 14:0 shots on target the Turks were able to handle the italian forwards pretty well. That way, the first half ended without any goals.
In fact, Turkey had also some luck a few seconds before the first 45 minutes were over: Celik touched the ball with his arm inside of the penalty area, but no VAR check was needed from the referee’s point of view.
In the second half when both coaches decided to execute a change on the pitch, Cengiz Ünder tested Gianluigi Donnarumma for the first time with a too unprecise shot from a pointed angle (51′). The earned advantage of Italy arrived a few instants later: Berardi advanced on the right side with a lot of space and crossed in the middle. No italian player catches the ball but Merih Demiral who placed the ball very unluckily inside of the own net (0-1). For the first time in Eurocup’s history, the first goal of the tournament was an owngoal.
The goal, of course made Italy gain a lof of confidence for the rest of the game. Especially Spinazzola made a lot of running on the wing, forcing Cakir several times to great saves. In one case, the ball landed directly in front of Ciro Immobile who scored the second goal of the evening (66′). Trabzonspor’s goalkeeper could not stand a chance (0-2). While the first two goals were linked to two very unlucky situations for the Turks, the third goal was literally a present for Mancini’s team. Cakir executes a clearance from his net in a really bad way and Lorenzo Insigne thanks immediately with another goal for Italy (79′) leading 0-3.
All in all it was a great performance by Italy who lived up to their role as favorites.
