After their unfortunate penalty shootout defeat to Ukraine in their opening group game of the European Games in Minsk, Italy picked themselves up to beat Russia 4-2 in their second match of the competition. It was a great response from Emiliano Del Duca’s side, who managed to overcome an excellent team. Captain Francesco Corosiniti broke the deadlock in the first period before Russia then hit back and turned it around after the restart. However, Italy stuck to their task and equalised through Gabriele Gori as the second period was coming to a close. In the final twelve minutes, the Azzurri’s determination made the difference. Viareggio goalkeeper Andrea Carpita scored directly from his own goal line before striker Gori scored his 224th goal for the National Team to make it 4-2.

Gabriele Gori was very satisfied after the match: “It was the last chance saloon, we knew this and didn’t get it wrong. We played with the right concentration levels and started strongly. We then managed to limit the reaction they showed. We displayed great character, the character which we’ll have to show in our final group game if we want to achieve qualification.”

Goalkeeper Andrea Carpita scored his first Italy goal in what was a difficult game: “It was tough but we always believed. This time we were so strong that bad luck was irrelevant. We were focused and determined to get the three points and continue on our journey.”

A win that takes on even greater significance if the stats are looked at: it was the Azzurri’s sixth win in 20 games against a side ranked third in the world. These were three valuable points for Italy, who have now rekindled their hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals. Tomorrow at 18:00 CEST, Del Duca’s team will have to put in a similar performance against Spain.

ITALY 4-2 RUSSIA (1-0; 1-2; 2-0)
Goals: 7' first period Corosiniti (I), 2' second period Del Mestre (R) own goal, 4' second period Krash (R), 8' second period Gori (I), 4' third period Carpita (I), 10' third period Gori (I)