For the fifth time in their history, the U21s will play on 18 November, this time against Montenegro in Nikšić at 18:30 CET. Previous results on this date have been three victories and one loss, spanning from 1992 to 2020.

The first outing dates back 35 years: a comeback win away to Scotland in the second match of the qualifying group. At Fir Park, the historic Motherwell stadium opened in 1895, the hosts struck first through Christian Dailly (still the Scottish record-holder with 35 U21 caps). Italy overturned the deficit in the second half thanks to goals from Christian Panucci (Genoa) and Christian Vieri (Pisa), both making only their second appearance for the Azzurrini.

A year later came another success, in 1993. Same qualifying group, final matchday, this time in Padova, with Italy and Portugal head-to-head for first place. The Azzurrini arrived with a one-point lead, 18 to 17, but had lost the reverse fixture in Braga 1–0. It was also the final U21 match at the Silvio Appiani Stadium – named after the Padova forward who died on the Carso in 1915 – before it closed to make way for the new Stadio Euganeo. Vieri, by then at Ravenna, opened the scoring once again. After the equaliser from Portugal’s Nélson António Soares da Gama, Roberto Muzzi (Pisa) netted the winner, a goal that ended Portugal’s remarkable 24-match unbeaten run. The two nations would meet again later that year in the Montpellier final, decided by Orlandini in extra time, the first instance of the newly introduced “sudden death” (later renamed “golden goal”).

The U21s had to wait 15 years for another 18 November fixture. In 2008 they met Germany in a friendly in Osnabrück, losing 1–0 courtesy of a strike from Bayern Munich midfielder Toni Kroos – a grim preview of the 2009 European Championship semi-final a few months later, where Germany won 1–0 again before going on to lift the trophy with a 4–0 victory over England.

The most recent outing on this date was the 4–1 win over Sweden in 2020 at the Arena Garibaldi in Pisa. The result had no bearing on qualification, with Italy already assured of their spot after victories over Iceland and Luxembourg in the previous days. It was the third game played in six days (12, 15 and 18 November) to make up for the postponed trip to Reykjavik the previous month, when Icelandic health authorities detected several positive Covid-19 cases within the Italian delegation upon arrival. That outbreak forced the FIGC to field the “reserve” squad – the U20s – three days later against Ireland, producing a memorable 2–0 win.