Italy recover from early shock to beat Albania

DORTMUND, Germany - Defending champions Italy recovered from the shock of conceding to Albania after 23 seconds to begin their Euro 2024 campaign with a 2-1 win on Saturday in front of a largely Albanian crowd.

Nedim Bajrami pounced on Federico Dimarco's poor throw-in to smash the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma for the fastest ever European Championship goal.

Italy equalised in the 11th minute through Alessandro Bastoni's towering header and Nicolo Barella put them ahead five minutes later, meeting a poor clearance with a superb strike from the edge of the box.

Although Italy controlled the game after Bajrami's goal, they created few clearcut chances in the second half and coach Luciano Spalletti cut a frustrated figure as his side failed to kill the game off but they held on to move level with Spain at the top of Group B. REUTERS