Euro 2024: Albania have created hsitory in their Group stage match against reigning European champions Italy, as 'The Red and Blacks' scored the fastest goal in the history of the tournament. The goal came inside 23 seconds courtesy of immensely impressive high IQ of Nedim Bajrami, as the Sassuolo attacking midfielder robbed off Italy from possession off their own throw-in, and placed in a thumping strike past goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma on his near post, into the top right corner to send the travelling Albanian fans berserk.
The Albanian midfielder saw the throw in from Italian lft-back Federico Dimarco being directed long into the box for centre-back and fellow club teammate Alessandro Bastoni, but his throw in fell short of the defender and bounced into the open area for the midfielder to capitalise upon and the 25-year old made no mistake in dispatching the strike into the net and stun the reigning European champions.
However, his valiant efforts could not help the underdogs Albania to script one of the biggest upsets in the tournaments' history, as first-half goals from Alessandro Bastoni and Nicolo Barella prompted a comeback win for the Azzurri, and the Inter Milan teammates saw the defending champions home with vital three points off a hard-fought win.
'There Are Many Things To Improve': Luciano Spalletti, Italy Coach
Italy head coach Luciano Spalletti was not entirely pleased with his side's 2-1 win as they are now second in the group behind Spain, whom they play next.
"You need to acknowledge when you become reckless in pursuing a certain play because at that moment, it's no longer worth it. The key was to clear that ball because we were trapped in the corner of the field, and we just needed to get it out. They did well many other times to get out of that situation, playing around the perimeter and moving the ball to the other side," said Spalletti, as reported by Sky Sports.
"I'm very happy with them. But there are many things to improve because we enjoyed ourselves too much in situations where we needed to be more aggressive. It's OK to be clean in the build-up; you free the man, and then you go for the kill. Instead, we stayed there, going back to the build-up phase and becoming excellent at managing the ball, which is something we need to work on and do better," added the Italian.