Italy will find Spain, Slovakia and Romania in Group A of the final phase of the Under 21 European Championship scheduled in Slovakia from 11 to 28 June. The Italians, who started in the second tier in the Bratislava tournament, have therefore drawn the hosts, the European vice-champions and Romania, with whom they will make their debut in the tournament on Wednesday 11th at 9pm in Trnava. Nunziata’s team will continue their journey by challenging Slovakia, again at the Anton Malatinsky Stadium, on Saturday 14th at 9pm and will end on Tuesday 17th, again in Trnava at 9pm, against Spain who could present themselves, for the occasion, with the talents of Barcelona Pau Cubarsi, Fermin Lopez and, above all, Lamine Yamal.
Nunziata: “We caught the strongest”
“We knew we were picking a top-tier team, and perhaps we picked the worst, Spain – Nunziata’s immediate comment -. For the rest, I believe that at this point in the competition there are no easy opponents: we will find Slovakia dominating home, which will therefore be supported by the entire stadium, and we will open our European Championship against a treacherous national team like Romania. The positive element is certainly that of being able to play the three group matches in the same stadium, therefore limiting travel”.
Hunting for a title that has been missing for 25 years
The Italians, who finished their qualifying group in first place, will have the task of competing for first place with Spain, who dominated the previous phase, obtaining 9 wins and 1 draw in 10 matches, with 28 goals scored and 5 conceded . The Iberians lost the 2023 final against England and will do everything to bring home the title that has been missing since 2019. Italy has won the tournament 5 times but the last one a quarter of a century ago, in 2000, precisely in Slovakia, beating the Czech Republic in the final thanks to a brace from Andrea Pirlo.
Possible crossover with Germany or England in the quarterfinals
The draw, carried out by two old acquaintances of Italian football, the former Inter and Parma player Vratislav Gresko and another former yellow-blue player who also wore the shirts of Milan and Genoa such as Juraj Kucka, established that in group B the Czech Republic, England, Germany and Slovenia, in Group C there will be Portugal, France, Poland and Georgia, finally in Group D Finland, the Netherlands, Ukraine and Denmark will meet. The top two in each group will advance to the quarter-finals. Italy, if it were to pass the round, would be paired with the first or second in group B.
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