EM: Italy clearly beats Turkey

The EM has finally started – one year later than planned! On Friday evening, Turkey and Italy opened the tournament in Rome, 16,000 spectators in the stadium burned down the hut and caused emotional fireworks. In terms of sport, Turkey switched to mixing cement, the Squadra Azzurra bit its teeth for a long time at the Turkish bulwark, but ultimately lived up to their favorite role.

14: 0 shots on goal from an Italian point of view spoke a clear language after 45 minutes. Italy, one of the secret favorites in the tournament, appeared as expected in a five-man chain with two offensively thinking full-backs and kept looking for the way over the rails or the offensive stars Immobile, Insigne and Berardi. However, Turkey, which has undergone a makeover in recent years, presented itself excellently organized and left few clear scoring opportunities in the first round. The Turks were also occasionally mentioned as a secret favorite, but didn’t really do justice to this role: Calhanoglu, Yilmaz and Co. simply didn’t get anything offensive!

But the story of the European Championship kick-off on Friday evening was primarily not a sporting one, but an emotional one. In the midst of the easing and falling number of cases in the corona pandemic, the starting shot was fired in front of 16,000 football-crazy speakers in Rome for a football festival that lets us look beyond the Corona-restricted box again. Goosebumps could be felt when the tournament officially opened at 9 pm; That was also due to Andrea Bocelli and his performance by Nessun Dorma. Either way: that makes you want more!

After the break, the Squadra Azzurra quickly rewarded themselves for the efforts of the first 45 minutes, albeit with clear assistance from Turkey: in the 53rd minute Berardi penetrated into the penalty area from the right, hit a sharp cross, which the Turkish central defender hit Demiral unhappily steered his chest into his own goal. Deserved leadership, but bitter for the self-sacrificing underdogs.

For Italy, the opening goal resulted in the spaces that Turkey had previously denied them. Although the Turks playing in red, nominally listed as the home team, were well organized, the oppressive superiority of the Italians finally paid off: Ciro Immobile dusted off after 67 minutes to make the deserved 2-0.

After all, there was a class difference. Turkey goalkeeper Cakir played a catastrophic bad pass after 80 minutes, Italy shifted quickly, brought the ball to the left-free Insignia, who stayed cool and pushed in to make it 3-0. A deserved result even at height.

Despite a good defensive performance in the first half, Turkey disappointed across the board in the opening game. Italy, on the other hand, cemented their role as secret favorites with a convincing performance that could mark the start of a grandiose tournament.

For the neutral viewer, however, one thing in particular should predominate on Friday evening: this EM, this much criticized and questionably revolutionized tournament, can be a lot of fun and maybe even make one and a half depressing Corona years forget a little.

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