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Reigning European champions Italy Under-17s made a flying start to their European qualifying campaign, thrashing Luxembourg 6-0 at the Vahagn Tumasyan Stadium in Abovyan in their opening Group 10 fixture.
The Azzurrini opened the scoring in the first half after Lazio playmaker Michele Elena won a penalty which was converted by AC Milan forward Gabriele Borsa in the 10th minute. After half-time, Manuel Pasqual's side doubled their lead in the 50th minute through Parma midfielder Roberto Scaglione before Elena scored in the 61st minute and Borsa completed his brace two minutes later to make it 4-0. AC Milan midfielder Cristian Sorrentino, who came on in the 82nd minute, added a fifth in the 89th minute before Juventus forward Giuseppe Pipitò rounded off the scoring in the first minute of stoppage time.
"We got an important result," said the Italy coach. "Keeping a clean sheet means we won't have to worry too much about the permutations. The players were a little nervous at the start, which is understandable given that this was our first European qualifier. We also faced opponents who stuck to their defensive shape (4-5-1) even after falling behind. They sat deep and allowed us to have possession, but gave us very little space to work with. We made a few adjustments at half-time and, once we scored our second goal, we settled down. We started finding more space and putting together some excellent attacking moves, which ultimately led to the final result."
Italy sit joint-top of the group alongside France and will return to action on Saturday 14 November (12:00 PM), when they face hosts Armenia at the FFA Academy Stadium. Armenia suffered a 4-0 defeat to France in Yerevan this morning, with Marseille's French-Algerian winger Eliès Diallo scoring a hat-trick in the 5th, 16th and 28th minutes before Troyes' French-Moroccan winger Yanis Kharbouch converted a penalty in the 63rd minute.
"We'll assess the players' fitness over the next few days," Pasqual concluded. "We want to be in the best possible shape for our next match, which could already prove decisive in terms of qualification for the second round."
LUXEMBOURG 0-6 ITALY (HT: 0-1)
Luxembourg (4-3-2-1): Hubsch (45+1’ Osorio Pires); Hoareau (68’ Tchatchouang), Figueiredo Andrade Y., Tenkanen, Monteiro Oliveira (40’ Memić); Mehlen, Figueiredo Andrade W., Ruggiero Araujo (c); Machado Guenha (68’ Milillo), Bugeja; Mehlinger (68’ Sakalic). Subs.: Brouxel, Deressa, Gonçalves, Ramcilovic. Coach: Daniel Zirbes.
Italy (4-3-1-2): Rondelli; Dattilo, Damonte (c) (46’ Lucarelli), Barbone, Odje; Norelli (65’ Blandina), Scaglione (82’ Furlan), Bernamonte; Elena (70’ Sorrentino); Pipitò, Borsa (65’ Egharevba). Subs.: Costante (GK), Mattei, Ghiotto, Salvai. Coach: Manuel Pasqual.
Referee: Bálint Kišš (SVK). Assistant referees: František Ferenc (SVK) and Davit Parazyan (ARM). Fourth official: Vardan Vardumyan (ARM).
Goalscorers: 10’ Borsa (ITA, pen.), 50’ Scaglione (ITA), 61’ Elena (ITA), 63’ Borsa (ITA), 89’ Sorrentino (ITA), 90+1’ Pipitò (ITA).
Yellow cards: Damonte (ITA) 20’, Sakalic (LUX) 71’, Figueiredo Andrade Y. (LUX) 88’.
Added time: 3 minutes (first half), 1 minute (second half).
UEFA European Under-17 Championship Latvia 2027 | Round 1
Group 10: Armenia, France, ITALY, Luxembourg
Matchday 1 (Wednesday 11 November)
Luxembourg 0-6 ITALY
France 4-0 Armenia
Standings: ITALY 3 PTS (GD +6), France 3 PTS (+4), Armenia 0 PTS (-4), Luxembourg 0 PTS (-6).
Matchday 2 (Saturday 14 November)
9:00 AM: France vs. Luxembourg, Vahagn Tumasyan Stadium, Abovyan
12:00 PM: ITALY vs. Armenia, FFA Academy Stadium, Yerevan
Matchday 3 (Tuesday 17 November)
11:00 AM: ITALY vs. France, Vahagn Tumasyan Stadium, Abovyan
11:00 AM: Armenia vs. Luxembourg, FFA Academy Stadium, Yerevan
NB: All times are in CET (Central European Time).