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France 24
France 24
Sport
NEWS WIRES

Italy recover from disastrous beginning to win Euro 2024 opener

Italy's defender #23 Alessandro Bastoni celebrates with teammates after scoring his team's first goal during the UEFA Euro 2024 Group B football match between Italy and Albania at the BVB Stadion in Dortmund on June 15, 2024. © Ozan Kose, AFP

Italy recovered from conceding the fastest goal in the competition's history to get their defence of the European Championship title off to a winning start on Saturday as they came back to beat Albania 2-1 in front of a partisan crowd. 

Nedim Bajrami stunned the Italians and delighted a huge Albanian support in Dortmund as he smashed in the opener after just 23 seconds, his strike pulverising the previous record for the quickest goal at the Euros of 67 seconds by Dmitri Kirichenko of Russia in 2004.

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