ITALY conceded the earliest goal in the competition’s history but fought back to beat Albania 2-1 tonight to round off the day’s Euro 2024 European Championship action in Germany.
Earlier, Spain eased past Croatia 3-0 and Switzerland saw off Hungary 3-1.
Defending champions Italy got off to the worst possible start when they conceded just 23 seconds after kick-off in Dortmund, Albania’s Nedim Bajrami scoring the quickest goal in European Championship history.
The Azzurri pulled level through Alessandro Bastoni in the 11th minute and Nicolo Barella struck five minutes later as they began their title defence with a win and moved to second in Group B.
It is the first time Italy have won after conceding the first goal at the European Championship since 2004 against Bulgaria, and they stretched their unbeaten run in the competition to 10 matches.
Spain are on top of Group B after thrashing Croatia 3-0 in Berlin, with Alvaro Morata, Fabian Ruiz and Dani Carvajal netting while Bruno Petkovic missed a late Croatia penalty.
In the first match of the day, Switzerland went up to second place in Group A behind Germany after Kwadwo Duah,
Michel Aebischer and Breel Embolo netted in Cologne.
