Another promising display, but a second consecutive 2-2 draw after the one against France in Empoli on Friday. In La Spezia, in front of 4000 fans and the watchful eyes of Luciano Spalletti at the Stadio Alberto Picco, the U21s took the lead twice against Ukraine thanks to goals by Giovanni Fabbian and Pio Esposito, only to be pegged back twice by the visitors. The Azzurrini were thus forced to settle for another draw in this international window, which has seen them put in plenty of work with next summer’s Euro finals in mind. The group will have the window in March to further prepare for the tournament, whose draw is scheduled for Tuesday 3 December in Bratislava.

“We played well in the first half, combining well and keeping hold of the ball,” said Carmine Nunziata. “At the start of the second half, we continued where we’d left off. I then made changes to try and add some more energy, but we made a few too many technical mistakes. We got stretched and were no longer playing as a team. Things like this can happen, but this should serve as a lesson for the future.”

The match against Ukraine was the team’s final one of 2024: “It’s been a positive year: we qualified for the Euros and have learnt a lot from these two friendlies. We need to continue on our path, aiming to improve and trying to avoid the mistakes we made in the final half an hour today.”

“It was a tough and excellent game,” said Spalletti, who played for Spezia for four years. “We’re gaining insights for the national team: Nunziata is excellent at working on players’ mindsets and, together with Viscidi, doing an excellent job. As has happened before, we’ll be able to turn to the U21s in the future. Esposito knows how to play and score, is strong physically and can have a very bright future. This is a strong U21 side: a group is being built that contains technically gifted players and players with physicality. It’s a team that will be able to compete with many sides.”

THE MATCH. Just two players who started against France were also in Nunziata’s line-up today: Matteo Prati (who wore the captain’s armband) and Cesare Casadei. In the team’s 4-3-2-1 formation, Pafundi (on his debut) was selected alongside Fabbian and behind Pio Esposito, who, along with Nicolò Bertola (at centre-back), took to the pitch at his club’s stadium.

After being set up by Esposito, Casadei was the first to come close, but the Chelsea midfielder was thwarted by Neshcheret. Italy looked bright early on, with Ghilardi and Pafundi both threatening to open the scoring. After Kuzyk had fired over for Ukraine, Italy took a 26th-minute lead through Fabbian, who volleyed home with his right foot after some brilliant play by Palestra (on his debut) down the right flank. Two minutes later, a pass from the Bologna midfielder was intercepted, leading to Kvasnytsya’s equaliser for the visitors. Just before half-time, the Azzurrini restored their advantage through Pio Esposito, who headed home a Miretti corner. Shortly afterwards, Neshcheret stuck out a strong hand to foil Casadei.

Sassi replaced Zacchi between the sticks at half-time and, shortly after the restart, was happy to see a Kozik effort finish wide of the post. Ndour and Gnonto replaced Miretti and Pafundi, but Ukraine were on top and also threatened through Bragaru, who fired narrowly off target with a curling right-footed effort. With 15 minutes to go, Nunziata brought on Ruggeri, Volpato and Ambrosino for Turicchia, Casadei and Esposito. Ukraine scored an equaliser after 83 minutes, with Tsarenko setting up Krasnopir, who had only been on for a minute, to make it 2-2. That’s how it finished, also thanks to a save from Sassi to deny Tsarenko.

ITALY 2-2 UKRAINE

ITALY (4-3-2-1): Zacchi (46’ Sassi); Palestra, Ghilardi, Bertola, Turicchia (74’ Ruggeri); Casadei (74’ Volpato), Prati, Miretti (58’ Ndour); Pafundi (58’ Gnonto), Fabbian; Esposito (74’ Ambrosino). Substitutes: Desplanches, Zanotti, Pirola, Kayode, Coppola, Guarino, Bonfanti. Head Coach: Nunziata

UKRAINE (4-2-3-1): Neshcheret; Krupskyi, Kozik, Batagov, Kuzyk (61’ Khlan); Varfolomeev, Yatsyk (65’ Melnychenko); Kvasnytsya (46’ Veleten), Fedor (58’ Tsarenko), Bragaru; Viunnyk (81’ Krasnopir). Substitutes: Yermakov, Pakholyuk, Ogarkov, Roman, Gusev, Gorbach. Head Coach: Melgosa

Goalscorers: 26' Fabbian (I), 28' Kvasnytsya (U), 45' Esposito (I), 82’ Krasnopir (U)

Referee: Chrysovalantis (Cyprus). Assistants: Pavlos, Marios (Cyrpus). Fourth official: Ghersini (Genoa)

Note: Bertola (I) and Khlan (U) booked