Euro 2020: Italy Beats Turkey, 3-0, in Opener in Rome

45’

Another call for a handball against Turkey, and another sweep of the hand from our referee, who waves on play. Celik, the Turkish defender, definitely handled the cutback pass at the end line but not in an unnatural way, apparently.

It doesn’t matter, though. The halftime whistle has gone, and we are scoreless at the break in Rome. Good riddance to that first 45.

40’

A scoreless halftime looms, and with it — hopefully — a tactical change or two that might open this up a bit in the second half. Italy, it must be said, has definitely had the better of the last 15 minutes.

23’

Italy, in quick succession, appeals for a handball against Soyuncu (the Dutch referee says no, correctly); has an open header by Chiellini saved (best chance so far); and then flubs the ensuing corner.

18’

Insigne with the first real chance of the game, but his curling shot from the left was always headed wide of the right post.

15’

Neither Turkey nor Italy seems inclined to gamble early. There has been some teasing on the wings, and Yilmaz just got loose on the right, but crosses have been off-target or easily dealt with at both ends, and both teams have their cover — in midfield and at the back in good order.

Pregame

Turkey and Italy have announced their lineups for the opening game. Capacity at the Stadio Olimpico is limited to 16,000 fans today, so expect the cheers from the crowd — mixed with fans of both countries — to be more muted than usual.

Turkey: Ugurcan Cakir, Zeki Celik, Merih Demiral, Caglar Soyuncu, Ozan Tufan, Okay Yokuslu, Umut Meras, Yusuf Yazici, Hakan Calhanoglu, Burak Yilmaz, Kenan Karaman

Italy: Gianliugi Donnarumma; Alessandro Florenzi, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Spinazzola; Nicolo Barella, Jorginho, Manuel Locatelli; Domenico Berardi, Ciro Immobile, Lorenzo Insigne

Chiellini, 36, is hardly a surprise, but his presence is a link to Italy’s past failure in major tournaments. While veterans like Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Barzagli and Daniele De Rossi saw a missed World Cup in 2018 as a moment to step aside from the national team, to make way for others, Chiellini said this week that he saw it as a chance to double down.

“We really want to make things right, to make Italy a contender in a big international tournament again,” Chiellini said Thursday. “Because that defeat in Milan with Sweden is something that remains inside us and can never be erased.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/06/11/sports/euro-2020-live-scores