It was a match that did justice to a historic match-up. Unfortunately, however, Italy suffered a narrow defeat to Germany in their opening European Championship fixture. After a hard-fought and open battle, the Germans ran out 3-2 winners at the Ness Ziona Stadium in Israel. The loss came against a side with a high amount of quality in attack, with players such as Wanner and Pejcinovic certainly ones to watch out for in the future.

With Bruno having missed a big chance to open the scoring from Di Maggio’s cross in the tenth minute, Germany took the lead through Bischov with 24 minutes on the clock. Two minutes later, Wanner, who made his Bundesliga debut with Bayern in January, doubled the Germans’ advantage after dribbling past Chiarodia and Magro.

However, following Fritschi’s poor back pass, Bruno beat Seimen with a lovely lob to reduce the arrears before half-time. Then, immediately after the restart, Bolzan finished off Vacca’s assist to level matters. Germany recovered to score the winning goal in the 56th minute: Ulrich sent a ball forward for Pejcinovic, who sent a powerful and precise effort past Magro to build on his eleven goals in qualifying.

Bernardo Corradi had the following to say after the game: “It was a great, open and hard-fought match. We had some big opportunities in the opening minutes and if we’d scored first, it would have been a different game. I complimented the lads because not every side is capable of coming from two behind against Germany in their opening European Championship match. Certain incidents change football matches and the lads are a bit dejected, but now we need to recuperate and focus on our next game.” This will be against hosts Israel on Thursday.

Italy 2-3 Germany

Goalscorers: 24' Bischof, 27' Wanner, 44' Bruno, 48' Bolzan, 56' Pejcinovic

ITALY (4-3-1-2): Magro; Domanico (77' Delle Monache), Mane, Chiarodia, Saiani (60' Malaspina); Ciammaglichella, Lipani (60' Onofrietti) Di Maggio (77' Esposito); Bruno; Bolzan, Vacca (71' Quieto)
Unused substitutes: Borriello (GK), D'Aprile, Serra, Parravicini. Coach: Corradi.

GERMANY (4-3-1-2): Seimenn; Walde (75' Manuba), Buchmann (85' Schulz), Fristchl, Azevedo; Wanner (55' Pejcinovic), Raebiger, DI Benedetto; Bischop (75' Lubach); Weiper, Ulrich (85' Krattenmacher).
Unused substitutes: Goller (GK), Hoffman, Likaj. Coach: Meister.

Referee. Willy Delajod (FRA); Assistants. Erwan Christophe Finjean (FRA) and Sander Saga (EST). Fourth Official: Henrik Nalbandyan (ARM).

Booked: Wanner, Weide, Fritschi, Lubach, Walde

Gruppo A results and standings

Monday 16 May

ITALY 2-3 Germany

Israel vs. Luxembourg, Haberfeld Stadium in Rishon LeZion, 19:00

Standings. Germany 3 points, Italy, Israel and Luxembourg 0

Thursday 19 May

Germany vs. Luxembourg, Haberfeld Stadium in Rishon LeZion, 16:30 

Israel vs. ITALY, Ness Ziona Municipal Stadium in Ness Ziona, 19:00 

Sunday 22 May

Luxembourg vs. ITALY, Ramat Gan Municipal Stadium in Ramat Gan, 19:00

Germany vs. Israel, Lod Municipal Stadium in Lod, 19:00 

Squad list

Goalkeepers: Federico Magro (Lazio), Francesco Borriello (Parma);

Defenders: Fabio Christian Chiarodia (Werder Bremen), Giovanni D’Aprile (Torino), Saverio Domanico (Juventus), Mattia Malaspina (Milan), Filippo Mane (Dortmund), Filippo Saiani (Spal), Nicolò Serra (Torino);

Midfielders: Kevin Bruno (Sassuolo), Aaron Ciammaglichella (Torino), Luca Di Maggio (Inter), Luca Lipani (Genoa), Vincenzo Onofrietti (Dortmund), Fabio Parravicini (Spal), Daniele Quieto (Inter);

Forwards: Alessandro Bolzan (Roma), Marco Delle Monache (Pescara), Alessio Vacca (Juventus), Francesco Pio Esposito (Inter).