UEFA Euro 2020: Italy routs Turkey 3-0 in tournament opener
The UEFA Euro 2020 got underway from Friday. Turkey and Italy were involved in the opening clash, while the latter came out on top, thanks to an own goal and a couple from Ciro Immobile and Lorenzo Insigne. Here is how the match panned out.
FollowThe 2020 UEFA Euro kick-started from Friday after being delayed by a year. Turkey and Italy were involved in the opening game at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, while the latter emerged victorious 3-0.
The match
The game began on a composed note, with just four promising attacks in the opening half, as all of them came from the home team. Nevertheless, none of it found the back of the net as the deadlocked stayed at the half-time break.
The second half saw another promising fresh attack from Italy in the 51st minute. At the same time, Merish Deminal’s own goal a couple of minutes later handed the home team the opening lead after he unsuccessfully blocked a powerful strike from Domenico Berardi.
Italy had another chance in the next minute that went pegging. Nonetheless, Ciro Immobile doubled the lead in the 66th minute after Turkish goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir failed to successfully grab an effort from Leonardo Spinazzola.
Meanwhile, 13 minutes later, an encouraging attempt from Lorenzo Insigne tripled the lead with the winner, thanks to a short pass from Immobile, while the former smashed it to the top corner. Although Italy had a final chance in the 92nd minute, it was to no avail, as the Gli Azzurri steered to a comfortable win.
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Stats from the match
- It was the first time in Euro history that the tournament’s opening goal has come through an own goal.
- It was the first time that Italy scored three goals in the Euro.
- It was also the biggest margin of win in the opening game of the tournament to date.
- It is the first time since 1989-90 that Italy has kept clean sheets in nine successive games.
Reactions
Immobile (to RAI Sport): Seeing the fans celebrate after all this time was wonderful; we finally got to come together after so long of this damned virus. I think we showed patience this evening. Turkey are a strong side and caused problems for many top teams. We tried to tire them out in the first half, moving the ball left and right, trying to spread them.
Spinazzola (to Sky Sport Italia): The emotions started on the bus towards the stadium, seeing all the people in the streets. It really did give us goosebumps. It was a perfect performance. We were patient; we moved the ball around well. Then afterwards, I saw my son in the stands; it was emotional.
Leonardo Bonucci: When you start this adventure, you need some tension, some goosebumps, the desire to get out there. I imagined it’d be like this because of the path we took to get here. Now, this is the first in a long journey, so we keep our feet on the ground, as it’s going to be a run of very close games, the opponents will get to know us better, but we know that we can have our say.
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