The Italian national team, the reigning European champions, successfully kicked off the tournament by defeating the Albanian national team 2-1. The match was completely controlled by the Italians, despite an early goal by Nedim Bajrami, who opened the scoring in the first minute. This goal entered history as the earliest goal in European Championships, but the Albanians' joy was short-lived.
The Italians' response didn't take long. By the 11th minute, Italian defender Alessandro Bastoni had equalized the score. Just five minutes later, in the 16th minute, Nicolo Barella scored the second goal, which secured Italy's victory. Notably, both goals were scored by players who are teammates of Henrikh Mkhitaryan at Inter Milan.
Federico Chiesa was named the best player of the match.
Thus, after the first round of the group stage, Italy and Spain lead Group B with 3 points each.
