The final friendly before the U21 Euros ended in a draw but with 5,800 fans in the stands of the Stadio Pier Cesare Tombolato in Cittadella there to witness a brilliant volley from Matte Prati: the Cagliari midfielder pulled off a brilliant move of coordination, power and precision to bring Italy back level after the Denmark opener though Sorensen. Italy went close to taking the lead in the second half, hitting the crossbar with Ghilardi in added time. The Azzurrini will next play against Romania on June 11 in Trnava, Slovakia: when the competition begins for real.

Carmine Nunziata: “Lately, we have been struggling to score, but I am not worried. If we scored a lot up until three games ago, it’s not an issue, we have quality players. I hope that we’re saving up the goals for the Euros. We can play well, we can play badly, but these lads always give everything. We have played two games with good performances which gave me some ideas about the players: there is a bitter taste in our mouths for the results but the attempts have been good. We are Italy: we are a strong side and we will face other strong sides, with the aim to go all the way”.

MATCH REPORT. Nunziata completely changed the formation with respect to Friday's game against the Netherlands: Pafundi behind Ambrosino and Sebastiano Esposito. In the four-man backline, Samuele Angori (Pisa) made his debut on the left. Denmark started with Sorensen taking a shot; after Esposito had a go and a goal was ruled out for a foul on Chukwuani. A few seconds later, Denmark bagged the opener by exploiting an error from the Italy defence. Zanotti unintentionally hit Prati and Jorgensen picked out Sorensen to assist the opener. Italy took a few moments to get back on their feet but then went close to the leveller through Ambrosini, deflected by Chukwuani. Then came Prati’s brilliant volley which flew past Jungdal. The former Cremonese keeper then managed to keep Ambrosini out before the break.

Three changes to start the second half for Italy: Sassi, Bianco and Pisilli made way for Desplanches, Doumbia and Ndour. After 8 minutes, Baldanzi came on for Pafundi after a shot from Bischoff took a deflection off Ghilardi and hit the post. Fabbian, on the other hand, made a run from inside the box but went to ground before getting the shot away. Moments later we had a chance to make it 2-1: the Bologna midfielder, however, struggled to hit the target before Zanotti’s shot finished in the stands. With 20 minutes to go, Palestra and Koleosho came on for Angori and Ambrosino - the Burnley forward, picked out by Baldanzi, had a chance from a good position. Then, Baldanzi failed to hit the target from the edge of the box. The best chance came with 20 seconds to go as Ghilardi picked up a run from Bertola and smacked the crossbar, denying Italy a well-deserved win.

ITALY 1-1 DENMARK 
ITALY (4-3-1-2): Desplanches (46' Sassi); Zanotti, Ghilardi, Bertola, Angori (71' Palestra, 92' Pirola); Bianco (46' Doumbia), Prati, Pisilli (46' Ndour); Pafundi (54' Baldanzi); Esposito (54' Fabbian), Ambrosino (71' Koleosho). Subs: Zacchi, Turicchia, Coppola, Volpato. Coach. Nunziata

DENMARK (4-3-3): Jungdal; Gaeei, Kristensen, Provstgaard, Jelert; Jorgensen (71' Hansen), Chukwuani (55' Nartey), Sorensen; Bischoff (86' Fraulo), Kjerrumgaard (71' Obi), Boving. Subs. Lykke, Adelgaard, Hey, Daghim, Nielsen, Bak. Coach. Hojer

Referee: Matosa (Slovenia). Assistants: Kasapovic-Meznar (Slovenia). IV official: Ayroldi (Italy)

Goals: 21' Sorensen (D), 37' Prati (I)

Notes: booked Jelert (D), Bischoff (D), Fraulo (D)