Clear victory in Rome: Italy thrilled at the start of the European Championship

The Azzurri beat Turkey 16.000-3 in front of almost 0 fans in the Eternal City thanks to goals from Ciro Immobile, Lorenzo Insigne and an own goal from Merih Demiral. A success that is well deserved - and that makes the wave of euphoria that the azure selection has unleashed in the last few weeks even greater.

It was already clear before the start of the European Championship that Italy was one of the secret favorites for the title this year. With this first appearance, Giorgio Chiellini & Co. have once again clearly underlined this. The Squadra Azzurra not only played passionately against the Turkish defensive bar, but also knew how to impress in their play - a quality that is anything but self-evident in the land of “Catenaccio”.

A statistic shows what an astonishing development the Azzurri have made in the last few months: The last defeat was in September 2018. Team boss Roberto Mancini's team has been unbeaten for 28 games and has not conceded a goal in nine games. Türkiye isolates itself, Italy runs Turkey, which was loudly supported by around 2000 fans on site at least in the opening minutes, went into the game with uncompromising defensive tactics. In some cases eight or nine red players were positioned in or around their own penalty area. Italy had the majority of the ball and launched attack after attack, but getting through was difficult. The best chance of the first half came from a set piece when Chiellini's header was deflected over the crossbar with a brilliant save by Turkey goalie Ugurcan Cakir. The statistic of 14:0 shots on goal shows how one-sided the game was.

After the break, Italy continued to keep up the tempo and became particularly dangerous on Domenico Berardi's right side. In the 53rd minute, the Turkish defensive bar was finally broken by the Sassuolo striker: his sharp cross was directed by Juventus defender Demiral into his own goal - 1-0 for Italy. The Azzurri then played like they were unleashed and soon upped the ante: Immobile made it 2-0 after a rebound (66'), then Insigne put the lid on it with a shot (79').

A tailor-made start for Italy, who now have their sights set on the second group game. The duel with Switzerland is on Wednesday. European Championship, 1st matchday Italy – Türkiye 3-0 Gates: 0:1 own goal Merih Demiral (53rd), 0:2 Ciro Immobile (66th), 0:3 Lorenzo Insigne (79th)

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Clear victory in Rome: Italy thrilled at the start of the European Championship

It's that time again: King football will dominate life for the next four weeks - despite the pandemic. The pan-European European Championship was ceremoniously opened on Friday evening in the Olympic Stadium in Rome - and Italy was able to immediately inspire its fans.

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