With personality, and no fear, both decisive and cool with his right boot. This sums up Luca Koleosho’s penalty in the 79th minute in our first game of the 2027 U21 EUROs Qualifiers. It was a tough match, made difficult when Montenegro got in front in the 3rd minute, but then recovered thanks to Lipani’s equaliser and Koleosho’s winner. Luca was born in Norwalk, US, and he followed in the footsteps of his mother (Canadian with Italian origins) becoming a footballer, just like her. His adventure in the Italy shirt began in 2023, and it was love at first sight, for both parties. With the U19s, he won the EUROs in Malta under Bollini, and the following summer, he played a key role in the EUROs in Slovakia, during which he scored in the match against Germany, which the Azzurrini then lost in added time (including that epic Ambrosino free-kick despite being down to ten men). Today, Koleosho is one of Silvio Baldini’s main assets: his flair, pace and ability in 1v1s were his main strengths in breaking down Montenegro’s resistance. He took his penalty with real assuredness, and it was the icing on the cake of a great performance.

KOLEOSHO. “This was the way to start after last summer’s EUROs, an important win. The loss to Germany was unfair, and now we want to get back to the final stage with this new team. It was only the first step in La Spezia, and if we keep working as we are, I am sure that we can make it all the way to the end.” He also spoke about Baldini: “We only had a few days to train before the game, but we could see straight away how good of a coach he was. I will be able to learn a lot from him and he can help us reach our goals.”

PRIDE. These are indeed objectives that Baldini set from his first day: the EUROs and the Olympics. “I will also try my best to get us there. Today I am a more mature player compared to the past. My strengths are still my pace and dribbling. I have also changed clubs: I am in Spain now and I expect to grow even further, and above all, I hope to keep wearing the Italy shirt, which is the biggest honour for me.” He’s an unpredictable player, very serious and busy outside of the game, as he is studying to improve his Italian: “I always speak Italian with my mum and my family with Italian origins to improve my languages. I speak four of them, and it’s difficult to learn them all well, but I am also working on this, because I have always felt Italian and playing for my nation means everything to me. It’s an unforgettable experience.”

CURRENT SITUATION. It’s a new era with many Italians interested, as over 700,000 fans tuned in for the game, making up 6.51% of the TV share. A real round of applause in the wake of upcoming events. Tomorrow afternoon, in fact, Italy will say goodbye to Tirrenia and will fly to North Macedonia. The Azzurrini will be based in Ohrid, just over an hour from Britola, where the match will be played on Tuesday 9 at 18:15 CEST, once again on Rai 2. Lipani and his boys will look for a second consecutive win to stay top of Group E, currently shared by Sweden and Poland, both 3-0 winners.

UEFA European Under-21 Championship Albania-Serbia 2027 | Qualifying

Group E

Matchday 1 (Friday 5 September)

18:00 CEST: Sweden 3-0 Armenia

18:00 CEST: Poland 3-0 North Macedonia

18:15 CEST: ITALY 2-1 Montenegro

Standings: Sweden 3, Poland 3, ITALY 3, Montenegro 0, North Macedonia 0, Armenia 0.

Matchday 2 (Tuesday 9 September)

15:00 CEST: Armenia vs. Poland

18:15 CEST: North Macedonia vs. ITALY

20:00 CEST: Montenegro vs. Sweden