Italy started strong at the Centenary Stadium in Malta, but lost in the second-half against Portugal, suffering a heavy 5-1 loss. Bollini’s Azzurrini started well, taking the lead through Lipani at the beginning of the match. But what followed can only be called a footballing collapse, with two naïve blunders, first by Turco with a back-pass that Lipani couldn’t control, leading to the equaliser and then the expulsion of the latter for a senseless foul against Gustavo Sà, forcing the Italians to 10 men for the entire second half. The Portuguese, on the other hand, can all but consider themselves in the semifinals, their final match on Sunday against Malta. For Italy, everything depends on their final match against Poland, who beat the hosts, Malta, 2-0 in the other match in the group.

The match. Three changes made from the first match played against Malta: Bollini, keeping the 4-3-3, used Niccolò Pisilli on the right of the midfield three in place of Amatucci and moved Lipani to the centre; Luis Hasa, left wing, in place of Luca D'Andrea and in the centre of attack Nicolò Turco in place of Pio Esposito. Portugal got off to a strong start but it was Italy who took the first opportunity: In the 6th minute, a corner for the Azzurrini, Hasa received the ball, lost his marker and cushioned the ball for the head of Lipani who finished into the roof of the net.

Bollini's boys controlled the pitch well: they maintained their distances and Koleosho and Hasa's counter-attacks raged on the flanks. But in the 35th minute, Turco's pass intended for Lipani fell at the feet of Sporting's centre forward, Rodrigo Ribeiro. Alone in front of Mastrantonio, he finished across the keeper, equalising for the Portuguese. Unfortunately, Italy’s troubles did not end there: In the 43rd minute, a loose elbow from Lipani, who until then had been one of the best on the pitch, drew an immediate red card. No hesitation from the German referee Jablonski. Italy held on to keep the score level at half-time.

At the start of the second half, Bollini changed to a 4-4-1, asking his wingers to tuck into midfield. But that didn't stop Portugal's onslaught, and in the 57th minute they took the lead:  Goncalo Estevez, Sporting's defender (the club had 11 players on the pitch)  the true inspiration of the move, who crossed from the right; Gustavo Sa burst through and, with a put his team ahead with a finish into the top corner. Bollini tried to protect the Italians, making two substitutions: Amatucci for Pisilli and Esposito for Turco, but the tides did not turn. The Portuguese dominated the ball and, in the 68th minute, Gabriel Bras finished from Hugo Felix’s corner, bringing Portugal’s tally to three. Bollini's boys were unable to stop their opponents' onslaught. Hugo Felix put his stamp on the game with a goal in the 89th minute and substitute Joao Goncalves, two minutes later, scored the fifth goal for the Portuguese with a powerful shot to the right of the blameless Mastrantonio, who in fact can be proud of his performance.

Alberto Bollini commented: “It’s difficult enough to play against a team like Portugal with 11 men, let alone 10. A tough game, but we need to recover immediately, both physically and mentally. Passage to the semifinals is far from complete: On Sunday we have our final match against Poland and we will certainly be playing for it.”

His sentiment was echoed by captain Filippo Missori: “An incident, a game gone wrong,  it can happen. I still have a lot of faith in this group and I'm sure we will make up for it against Poland.”

Portugal 5 - 1 Italy

Scorers: 6’ Lipani, 35' Rodrigo Ribeiro, 57', Gustavo Sá, 68' Gabriel Brás, 89' Hugo Félix, 90'+1 Vasconcelos

Portugal (4-3-3): Gonçalo Ribeiro; Gonçalo Esteves (63' Martim Fernandes), António Ribeiro (85' Luís Gomes), Gabi Brás, Martim Marques; Samuel Justo (63' Diogo Prioste), Nuno Félix, Gustavo Sá (63' Vasconcelos); Hugo Félix (C), Rodrigo Ribeiro (78' Miguel Falé), Carlos Borges. Unused: Diogo Pinto (GK), Jorge Meireles, Herculano Nabian, da Rocha.

Italy (4-3-3): Mastrantonio; Kayode, Dellavalle L., Regonesi, Missori (C); Pisilli (60' Amatucci), Lipani, Ndour (90' Vignato); Koleosho (75' D'Andrea), Turco (60' Esposito), Hasa. Unused: Palmisani (GK), Chiarodia, Dellavalle A., Bozzolan, Faticanti.

Cards: Red: 44’ Lipani. Yellow: 42’ António Ribeiro, 45’+4 Samuel Just, 72’ Koleosho, 76’ Ndour, 90’+4 Diogo Prioste

 

Calendar and Group A Classification

Monday 3 July

Poland 0 - 2 Portugal

Malta 0 - 4 ITALY

Thursday 6 July

Portugal 5 - 1 ITALY

Malta 0 - 2 Poland

As it stands. Portugal 6 pts, ITALY and Poland 3, Malta 0

Sunday 9 July

ITALY - Poland, 18:00 CEST, National Stadium Ta’Qali, live on Rai Sport

Portugal - Malta 18:00 CEST, Gozo Stadium Xewkija

(the top two of each group qualify for the semifinals)

Semifinals

Thursday 13 July

18:00 CEST, Tony Bezzina Stadium Paola

21:00 CEST, National Stadium Ta’Qali

Final

Sunday 16 July

21:00 CEST, National Stadium Ta’Qali

Hall of Fame

(Championships won)

Spain (8), France (3), England (2), ITALY, Portugal and Ukraine (1)