The Italian national team under 19 gave the answer to Portugal

Manos Staramopoulos • 17 de julio de 2023

Italy won his four tittle in the category history after defeating Portugal, who had beaten him in the group stage

Italy champion of UEFA Under 2023

The Italian youth national team responded in the best way to the 5-1 defeat by Portugal in the group stage 10 days ago. In the final in Tally, Malta, the blue team prevailed 1-0 against Portugal and lifted the Euro U19, in the first victorious final of the year for their country.


Yes, that was Italy's answer! They finally smiled in Italy, after four lost finals this season at club and national level (the country's U20 in the World Cup, Inter in the UEFA Champions League, Roma in the Europa League and Fiorentina in the Conference League), it was time for answer.


For a country that has invested in the young, having drastically changed its style of football by emphasizing the attacking part (as is also seen in Serie A), the new Italian national under-19 toy Alberto Bollini.


On a Sunday (16/7) when Portuguese families gathered around the TV to support a team that categorically destroyed all opposition on the way to the final, it was Italy who celebrated with a 1-0 triumph. Two nations were fighting for their second title in this competition, in the third final they played together, but the transalpine team was superior in every way and managed to hold back the Portuguese who, on this last night in Malta, boasted some favoritism.



5-1, that's the result that hangs in the head during this fateful summer night. The result by which the Portuguese beat this same opponent just ten days ago, in the group stage. Italians in a version much superior to this one... and Portuguese unarmed for the fifth time in six U-19 Euro finals. Call it a stumble at the wrong time, but a Portuguese person knows that this too is fado.


In the competitive part now, Italy - if underdogs - were superior on the field of play, justly getting to victory. He entered the match very strongly, managing to open the scoring in the 19th minute after a cross from Hasa (4th assist in the competition for the Juventus midfielder), a header from Kayode and a miscalculation from Ribeiro.


Portugal - which up to that point had been in a passive role - tried to pick up the pace, especially in the second half. But without achieving anything, with Italy defending their advantage until the final.


The "Azzurri" squad was much better in the first half, reached the advantage and then held it until the end against a Portuguese team that grew, but that did not manage to reach a tie. In the last shot of the game, Herculano shot just wide of the post and Portugal fell to its knees. A huge disappointment for a generation that had already missed the final phase of the under-17 European Championship due to the covid-19 pandemic.


Portugal tried to enter the game in the same way as they had done in the first four games, trying to impose their football, with a raised block and possession of the ball, but quickly found difficulties. Ahead of us was an Italy very different from the group stage game, as, in fact, we had already seen in the previous game against Spain.


Former Benfica player N'Dour returned to midfield, after serving a suspension, to give him more physical power and defensive consistency, in an Azzurri squad that deployed very well for the attack, with Kayode on the right and Hasa on the opposite side to easily get depth over the wings. After four high-quality games, Portugal lost everything in the decisive game, against an Italy that again won a final against Portugal, as in 2003, after having lost another in 2018.


Thus the cup returns to Rome 20 years later: in 2003 it was Italy led by Paolo Berrettini who overtook the Portuguese in Vaduz, with the various Chiellini, Aquilani and Pazzini on the field. Since then, the defeats against Germany (2008), France (2016) and again Portugal (2018), a negative streak forcefully interrupted by a group that risked not reaching the final stage. But then, once he found himself in the Maltese group, he became a team and decided not to go on holiday. If not with the gold medal around his neck.



Manos Staramopoulos- Discoveryfootball.com

Manos Staramopoulos

Journalist and Analyst of International Football and Affairs

Chief Editor English Zone of Discoveryfootball.com

Athens (Greece)

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