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Free Post Match Reaction Pod: Barella & Bastoni Inspire Italy Past Albania In EURO 2024 Opening Game
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Carlo Garganese react to Azzurri's 2-1 win over Albania in the opening group stage game in EURO 2024 thanks to a goal each from Inter Milan duo Nicolo Barella and Alessandro Bastoni.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to the Italian Football Podcast. I'm Carlo Garganese.
Italy's Euro 2024 Opener: Victory Against Albania
00:00:06
Speaker
Euro 2024 has begun and Italy have begun their defence of their European title with a 2-1 win against Albania. in Dortmund we said before the game this being the group of death with Spain and Croatia in our group that this was an absolute must-win game for Italy tonight and the most important thing was that we got the win it was very very nerve-wracking Albania so close to getting an equal ah to getting an equalizer at the end but Italy
00:00:42
Speaker
get the win and it was all after an absolute nightmare start for Italy.
The Fastest Goal and Italy's Response
00:00:48
Speaker
ah Italy go behind to Albania after just 23 seconds. A shocking mistake from Federico Di Marco who does a terrible throw. right into the path of Bayrami, who then lashes home an admittedly fantastic goal into the top corner, past Donnarumma, after just 23 seconds, the fastest goal in the history of the European Championship. It couldn't have been a worse start for Italy. um But Italy recovered. They recovered really well. And by the 16th minute, ah they hadn't just equalised, they had taken the lead. First of all, Bastani, with a header from Pellegrini's cross after a short corner, really well worked.
00:01:28
Speaker
short corner on the training ground and then Barrella with a brilliant shot outside of the boot into the corner from outside the area. Italy were 2-1 up and Italy played really, really well, I thought, in the first half. um They should have killed the game by half time. They created another two huge chances in the first half. First of all, Francesi one-on-one ah hit the post after trying to dink it over the keeper, who made a really, really great save. And then Skamaka with a big chance as well, ah who was saw his shot saved by by the ah by the keeper as well.
00:02:08
Speaker
um So Italy went into the to half time at 2-1. Second half not so good from Italy, ah all truth told. and Didn't really create anything at all in the second half but kept the ball well as they did throughout the game. um But nearly gave it away at the end, ah right at the end in injury time.
Player Performances and Tactical Insights
00:02:30
Speaker
Manage Thruongol tried to dink it over Donnarumma, who made a huge, massive save to save Italy and to give us the three points. um So we have to thank Donnarumma for that. But if we talk about the the positives first in this game, Barella, we have to say, was for me, was the man of the match.
00:02:53
Speaker
ah All the build-up to the game was would he be fit would he not be fit he's missed over a week of training going into the game he only returned to training two days ago and he it seemed like he wasn't going to be be given us a starting place for this for this match but he was adamant that he wanted to start. and virtually begged Spelletti to start him. And Spelletti did, and thank God he did, and because he he was superb. He scored the the the winner with ah with a great goal. ah Such a complete player, but he was everywhere. ah He had a 97% pass success rate in this game. um he's he is our There's no doubt about it. He is our ah one world-class, undoubted world-class outfield player.
00:03:38
Speaker
ah in our team. ah Brilliant performance from Borrell and it's so important that he is fit and stays fit for the whole tournament. ah Other positives, Califuri was given a um some think of a surprise start because it only made he only had one or two appearances before before this game and only one starting appearance and which came in the in the friendly the other night. And so he started in a, in a, in a center back partnership with the, with the the fellow left footed Bastani says it's somewhat surprising that you know two left footers playing enough in a four man back line at center back kind of fury and Bastani the two of them were
00:04:20
Speaker
for for for the entirety of this game ah were fantastic on the ball the two of them were it was no doubt about it world-class elite on the ball breaking that and admittedly not a great press from Albania it was a poor press they'll play against better press much better pressing teams but the way that these two use the ball, the way they pass it into midfield, the calmness they are in the ball, their range of passing, their ability to so bring the ball out of the fence. They use the ball so well. They're a threat going forward. We saw Bastani score.
00:04:55
Speaker
um And Califuri also brings a bit of pace, which is needed at centre-back, especially because Bastoni is pretty slow. Califuri, his first half was was a clinic. He had a first half, 100% duels and tackles won in the first half, 94% pass success rate in the first half. He was literally perfect in the first half of Califuri. And um and he was it was a great performance by him, the only, the only mistake he made, and it was almost costly, was he got caught off cool court under the ball right at the end from the long pass for the Manage chance. He got caught under it and then Manage was was was through and he dinked it over and Donarima made the save. But apart from that, and we can let him offer that, um he was he was fantastic. So he he is he has a huge future ahead of him, a huge, huge future. And this was a really good partnership. Whether or not
00:05:52
Speaker
you know against better teams we're going to be able to play two left footers in a back four whether you know we might get you know caught out a little bit more against better teams um you know is it's not easy to say right now because we because of the level of opposition but in this game certainly in possession. These two were were were just unbelievable, ah in possession of the ball and kind of summed up really just how good Italy were really, really good on the ball. It really was in the first half, especially, but the but the way that they kept the ball, the one one and two touch passing and they had like, I think, 70% possession in the first half. um the the The Albania press, just the Albania were just had to were just forced to sit off and they couldn't get it off them.
00:06:42
Speaker
ah very brave plane out of the back and the it was a very much Spelletti type of football possession play and that was you know that was really nice to see because if you saw us against Turkey um you know this is this was light and day in that respect from the Turkey friendly only well not long ago a couple of weeks not even a couple of weeks ago um so so that was positive I thought the press in was really really good in the first half I mean Albania couldn't get could barely get into our half in the first half
00:07:13
Speaker
um so So the first half very positive, um some other positive performances as well. Kieza I thought definitely took some step forwards in this game. and he He beat his man a few times. He did a lovely nutmeg. He had a left foot shot that just went wide. and he was he he was you know There was positives there from Kieza. Let's see if he can kick on against better opposition.
Closing Moments and Donnarumma's Heroics
00:07:36
Speaker
um And of course, Donna Ruma, I mean, I said before the tournament in our preview show that if we're going to have a really good tournament, we need donna we're going to need Donna Ruma to come up big for us. I wasn't so much expecting it him to save us in this game against Albania, but when we play against better teams,
00:07:57
Speaker
Donnarumma is going to have to make big saves like he did against Manage. That's just how it's going to be. And and he saved us. and But all the criticism he's got over his you know use of the ball and you still get nervous when he's playing it out from the back. He actually did pretty pretty well actually with his feet today, his passing. He even did one really nice sprayed pass, medium range pass out to Di Lorenzo in the second half. He was he was well. but don't you know Let's all be honest, we all get nervous when we see Donna Rummer get impressed by the attacker. And so that is still going to be nerve wracking against teams that press a lot better, including Spain, who press brilliantly. And that's our next game. so that's you know But in terms of being a match winner with his saves, Donna Rummer is probably the best goalkeeper in the tournament. And you know we're going to need him to make saves like he did at the end um if we're goingnna if we're going to go ah far in this tournament.
00:08:50
Speaker
um Having said that, though, I think that defensively we were pretty good. And if you take away the first 30 seconds and you take away that chance in injury time, ah Albania had nothing. They created nothing. They had no territorial ah superiority at any time in the game. They they they could barely get into into into our penalty. It will barely get into our half, let alone our penalty area. ah And so defensively, I thought we were we were pretty good. um As for the negatives, I mean, we were too wasteful. You've got to kill off games like that. Britez and Skamaka have got to put those chances away to kill the game off before half time. ah When you're on top on games, you've got to take chances because, you know, this is this is cup competitions and cup competitions. You know, you know, the things change. You can have a good spell in a game and then games are going to ebb and flow, especially against bigger teams, better teams.
00:09:44
Speaker
you're never going to dominate from start to finish. You're going to have one half where you're great and then the second half where you're where you're not so great. and That happened also in the game earlier today. Switzerland were fantastic in the first half, second half, up suddenly Hungary were on top, they equalised, they didn't equalise, they half the deficit and then they looked like they might equalise. and you know so this this is how this is how football is. So, you know, you especially as against better teams, we're not going to get as many clear chances as we got in the first half against Albania. So we can't be as wasteful as we were in that first half. Also, the second half, we we eased off too much for me. We were just, by by a certain stage, I mean, almost from the start of the second half, but certainly as we got to midway through the second half,
00:10:29
Speaker
We weren't pushing anymore to try and get that that third goal. We were just keeping the ball and really playing for the 2-1. And obviously, you know, I'm recording this straight after ah full-time. Knowing Spelletti, I think, I don't think he will like that too much and because he's a manager that likes to kill off games early. um But yeah, that that's something we we we, you know, that's the kind of the old Italy. um not so much the old Italy in that we kept them away from our penalty area. um So we kept possession. We didn't just go max allegory and put 10 men in our penalty area and try and defend our box. you know So from that respect, we kept the ball. But you know we're playing Albania. We should have gone for the third goal and um and and and you know try to tried to kill off the game. And And that way we could have, you know, we could have rested more players. We wouldn't have had to so to stress at the end with that chance of Manaj. So yeah, that that that almost cost us. If it wasn't for Donnarumma, we could have drawn 2-2 and we would have been kicking ourselves, but for not going for that third goal.
00:11:34
Speaker
Obviously, DiMarco, shocking error
Concerns and Upcoming Challenges
00:11:37
Speaker
after 30 seconds. ah I mean, he also made a shocking error which should have cost us a goal and should have cost us a draw in the friendly against Bosnia as well when he came on. So DiMarco, yeah, you he needs to stop cutting out these these stupid mistakes. They will, you know, they they will cost us um against, ah again, against better against better teams. um Apart from that, I think mostly you know most of the players played pretty well. For Atezi, I like his um his ability to to to to to be a goal threat, to to make those runs in behind, to get into goal scoring positions. ah His passing, though, yes still needs to improve.
00:12:16
Speaker
um he had the lowest pass ah percentage out of our ball four players, out of our defenders and midfielders, those that you know use the ball as part you know players' passes. I don't really count attackers when judging ball, pass success rate because they're obviously crossing and and and doing other stuff. you know So um out of our defenders and our midfielders, Francesi had quite comfortably the lowest pass success rate in the game and he messed up, there was one pass in particular that he messed up where it was, I'm not sure who, it was two, it was in the kind of just in the left centre position, it was the easiest pass you can have to put a player, an Italy player clean through, it was the 60th or 61st minute, he messed it up, it was a really easy pass and these are the kind of fratazzi passes which frustrate you really, but I don't want to be too critical as I thought his overall performance in terms of
00:13:08
Speaker
The system that Spelletti plays was important and and um you know I thought that the system worked really well from Spelletti. I thought the way that in the first half it was very, very difficult to work out our system. Players were but alternating position, they were moving, the centre backs were moving into inter midfield, Di Lorenzo was moving into midfield, ah Calafiori and Bastoni were taking it turns moving into midfield. DiMarco, sometimes he was left, sometimes he was coming inverted and then Pellegrini was going out to the left flank. Freta Skicieza, sometimes he was central, sometimes he was really wide right, which he which obviously he loves the most. um It was you know really, really difficult to work out. Skimaka, Skimaka was okay. He wasn't he wasn't
00:13:53
Speaker
He wasn't amazing. He had done some good things. and um He should have scored, um but he you know he wasn't the Scamaco of Atalanta, but he was okay. He did his job and he he did his job in the system. But yeah, we expect more from Scamaco, I would say. um The other, the last point is, you know, this was the intershow. DeMarco gave the assist for the Albania goal and then two interplayers scored the goal. So this was ah something of an intershow. Thank God the former interplayer didn't equalize at the end as well, otherwise it would have been the full on intershow. But yeah, the the most important thing was we won.
00:14:32
Speaker
ah We had to win. We've got Spain next. um Spain thrashed Croatia 3-0. Spain looked absolutely unreal in the first half. They looked scary. Yamau, 16 years old. What a player this guy is going to be. um Absolutely incredible in in that game. um just Just a fantastic, fantastic player. So, yeah, we're going to have to make sure we get taught get ah in charge of it. You know, how well we can do in the tournament. You know, listen, it's Albania. They're the second lowest ranked team in the tournament. um And you know the next two games in Spain and Croatia will tell us more obviously the most important thing we got to take a step by step as we got to get through first then we can worry about how far we can go but that that certainly the Spain game should tell us more about really where we're at.
00:15:17
Speaker
um I want to look at it on the positive ah positive light though. um i Overall, I'm actually quite happy. I'm actually quite happy. and you know Generally, i i you know as all us Italians, are we're quite pessimistic sometimes about the international team. Even when we've got great teams, I remember in the 90s where we had world-class players all over the team and I was generally pessimistic and always looking at our weaknesses more than our our strengths. I didn't go into this tournament with much hope, um to be honest. and But having watched us play today, I saw enough positives to give me you know some hope that's um that you know we can we can do something in this tournament. I don't think we're going to win it. I don't think many people think we could have a chance of winning it. But for me, it was a positive start. um And you know we go to the Spain game now. you know Spain and Italy,
00:16:16
Speaker
top of group B with three points each Albania and Croatia with with with no points. Croatia play Albania on Wednesday so that's good for us as well we can see what the score is in that game which will give us a kind of a more of an idea of what we need from the Spain game in terms of you know in terms of ah qualification, really. and We could even, you know if the result goes our way, who knows, maybe we could do a biscotto with Spain, go for the draw. The most important thing though was we won and now we can we can enjoy enjoy our Saturday, the rest of our Saturday evening and and enjoy the the next few days of euro of the Euro, because it's fantastic,
Wrap-up and Future Discussions
00:16:59
Speaker
isn't it? been having Italy back at a Euro, having Italy to be back at a major tournament, you know it's been three years. and You feel the magic and it's great to to celebrate our first game back with a win. So let's leave it at that, that's all. Thanks everyone for listening. and We will go deeper into this game ah on Monday in the main show with Nimr and we will of course look ahead to the the Spain game on Thursday.
00:17:28
Speaker
Until then, have a great weekend. Ciao, Ciao.