Italy dominated and hit the woodwork, but their 0-0 draw with Portugal leaves European Under-21 Championship hopes hanging by a thread.
This was a must-win game for the Azzurrini, having lost the opener to 10-man Sweden. Now Portugal lead Group B on four points, followed by Sweden and England on three, while Italy have one.
Italy dominated and hit the woodwork, but their 0-0 draw with Portugal leaves European Under-21 Championship hopes hanging by a thread.
This was a must-win game for the Azzurrini, having lost the opener to 10-man Sweden. Now Portugal lead Group B on four points, followed by Sweden and England on three, while Italy have one.
Stefano Sturaro began his three-match ban for a reaction foul, sparking numerous changes from Coach Gigi Di Biagio including Lazio midfielder Danilo Cataldi and Sampdoria defender Alessio Romagnoli. Ivan Cavaleiro was only fit for the Portuguese bench, but this side won all 10 of its qualifying fixtures and eight players had senior caps. There was extra motivation, as Italy boss Antonio Conte was in the stands.
Marco Benassi had a fierce shot palmed over the bar after just 10 seconds, then Domenico Berardi’s absolutely inspired cross-field pass split the defence to send Andrea Belotti clear on goal, but the Palermo forward’s low drive was beaten away by Jose Sa’s trailing leg.
It was an extremely aggressive start from the Azzurrini and Jose Sa was again decisive, intercepting a Berardi cross with the outside of the left boot from reaching Belotti, then Paulo Oliveira threw himself in the path of a Cataldi angled drive.
Benassi was again denied by Jose Sa, who got down very quickly to fingertip a daisy-cutter round the post.
Portugal had their first real chance at the 36th minute, as Joao Mario blasted wide from an excellent scoring position.
However, the first half was dominated by Italy, who saw Berardi’s curler smothered and a Davide Zappacosta cross almost deflected into an own goal.
Once again, the Azzurrini had a fantastic start to the half, as within 60 seconds Palermo striker Belotti’s diving header looped over the goalkeeper to bounce off the crossbar.
Benassi drilled another off target and Christian Battocchio blasted straight at Jose Sa, while Zappacosta nutmegged a defender down the right and pulled across for Belotti to flick wide from six yards with his heel.
Bernardo Silva and Belotti scuffed off target, then Di Biagio changed the shape to 4-4-2 for the final 15 minutes, but Portugal seemed content to play for a point.
Berardi fired over with his weaker right foot when he should’ve rolled across for Federico Bernardeschi and Carlos Mane curled wide. There was a huge scare on 87 minutes when Toze’s free kick was accidentally nodded away from goal by Gonzalo Pacienca.
Francesco Bardi’s first genuine save was with his legs on the unmarked Iuri Medeiros volley at the near post. Deep into stoppages Cristiano Biraghi was sent clear on goal by Bernardeschi only for his first touch to let him down, allowing Jose Sa to smother.
Italy 0-0 Portugal
Italy U21: Bardi; Zappacosta, Rugani, Romagnoli, Biraghi; Benassi, Crisetig (Trotta 76), Cataldi; Berardi, Belotti (Viviani 85), Battocchio (Bernardeschi 62)
Portugal U21: Jose Sa; Ricardo Esgaio, Paulo Oliveira, Tiago Ilori, Raphael Guerreiro; William Carvalho; Joao Mario (Toze 81), Bernardo Silva (Iuri Medeiros 78), Sergio Oliveira; Rafa Silva (Gonzalo Pacienca 54), Carlos Mane
Ref: Marciniak (POL)