Under 21, Italy-Ireland 1-1: Azzurri in the final phase of the European Championships

L’Italy Under 21 drew 1-1 in Trieste with Ireland and has directly qualified for the final phase of the European Championships scheduled in Slovakia from 11 to 28 June 2025. Carmine Nunziata‘s Azzurri lead qualifying Group A with 22 points. The Azzurri achieved a perfect counterattack with Cesare Casadei who, following a suggestion from Gnontofinds the corner and scores the opening goal. Italy also missed a penalty with Gnonto in the 37th minute of the first half. Moran equalized in the second half. In the 76th minute Mattia Zanotti suffered a bad injury and coach Carmine Nunziata was forced to replace him, sending Turicchia onto the pitch. The Irish tried everything in the final, but the Italians managed to defend the 1-1 draw until the final whistle, even coming close to scoring the winning goal on the counterattack.

Nunziata: “We deserved to qualify”

“Certainly looking at the whole process it’s a deserved qualification. We conceded few goals and never lost. Today was tough, it’s not easy to play against these teams. In the end the boys were good. Three out of four defenders changed and not it was simple. All in all we expected this match, it’s a team that plays a lot of long balls. At the beginning we struggled, then we played a good game until the end of the first half. We could have closed it with the penalty, then in the second we struggled. But this team, in addition to playing good football, also knows how to suffer.” This was said by the coach of the Italian Under 21 national team, Carmine Nunziata, after the 1-1 draw against Ireland, in the match valid for the qualification for the 2025 European Championships in the category. “It wasn’t a question of the head, they force you to play a particular type of football that makes you run a lot. This team struggles to defend itself in its own half of the pitch”, added Nunziata to Rai Sport.