U21 Euro 2019 winners Spain were in action against Italy while Germany took on the Netherlands.
Spain 1-2 Italy – wasn’t the scoreline when the two teams met in their U21 Euros encounter but rather the number of red cards accumulated. The heavyweight clash had a fiery end, with the referee sending off three players within the space of a minute.
Spain were much the better side in this one – recording a higher percentage of possession, number of shots, and shots on target. Italy sat back for most of the encounter and could only muster four attempts at the goal, a quarter to what their opponents Spain registered.
La Rojita came close to scoring the opening goal just before the 20 minutes. Barcelona’s on-loan left-back Juan Miranda saw his long-range shot sail just over the bar first. They were guilty of giving the ball away at times and almost allowed Italy to score through Davide Frattesi after the midfielder had latched on to a poor pass. The goalkeeper Alvaro Fernandez produced a wonderful save to keep the scores level.
While they were on the back foot for most of the match, Italy did not allow their opponents to create many clear-cut chances. Luis De La Fuente’s men barely tested Mauro Carnesecchi all night. However, the young Italian custodian did produce a couple of great saves towards the end.
Nonetheless, the match was marred by a series of red cards shown to both the teams by the referee. Italy’s Gianluca Scamacca was the first to receive his marching orders following a foul on Barcelona’s Oscar Mingueza. A scuffle between the two sides was to follow, which saw both Mingueza and Niccolo Rovela receive a red card. Astonishingly, Italy finished their second straight match with nine men on the field.
Hosts Slovenia recorded their first points of the tournament in the other Group B encounter, as they drew 1-1 against Czech Republic. They remain rooted to the bottom of their group, with Italy and Czech Republic joint second.
There was another high-profile encounter on the night, as Germany played Netherlands in Group A. While the Germans won their first match of the group stage, the Dutch were held to a draw by Romania.
The match began slowly, with the first real opportunity of the night falling to the 2017 champions, Germany. Armenia Bielefeld’s Amos Pieper had the chance to put his side in front following a corner. The defender could not find the target. The Dutch then went extremely close through Dani de Wit, who diverted a Cody Gakpo cross onto the bar from close range.
The breakthrough came in the second half through the on-loan RB Leipzig attacker, Justin Kluivert. The Oranje star had Germany goalkeeper Finn Dahmen to thank for his goal, as he made a complete mess of a routine clearance. The ball fell kindly in the path of Kluivert, who walked it into the net.
Germany went looking for the equalizer but barely threatened Kjell Scherpen in goal. However, their resilience paid off in the 84th minute, when Lukas Nmecha diverted a Jonathan Burkardt cross from close range.
Elsewhere in Group A, Romania registered their first win of the competition by beating Hungary. The hosts had taken the lead despite seeing a man sent off in the first half but were pegged back by Romania’s Alexandru Matan. Alex Pascanu netted the winner late into the match, breaking Hungarian hearts.
The competition continues on March 28, with France, England, and Portugal in action on Day 4.
