With Italy getting the job done against Liechtenstein in the last competitive fixture, the next task that awaited the Azzurri would be facing fierce rivals Germany in an international friendly.
However, this time around a penalty shootout couldn’t separate these former World Cup champions like the last outing in the 2016 Euro Championship.
Italy couldn’t find their ultra attacking rhythm in the first half as they were struggling in the final third to create any dangerous chances. The German defence was being a typical solid wall that would persist to let any Italian attacker through to get a shot on goal.
The in-form number nine Andrea Belotti was even struggling to get some shooting happening as German defender Shkodran Mustafi was giving him an unpleasant evening. The first half ended with Germany controlling the passing game which was giving the Italian fans in Milan nothing to cheer about.
In the second half the Italians came out with an urgency to lift their tempo and place pressure on the German midfield and defence. Giampiero Ventura’s talk at half time must have inspired Italy in a way that they were playing with fluency especially keeping the ball away from Germany.
Italy’s 17-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma who was substituted on at halftime for Gianluigi Buffon had little to do as it was Italy who kept playing on the attack.
The best chance of the game for the Azzurri was when striker Andrea Belotti played some tricks on Germany’s defence and would blast the ball low into the corner only to be denied by the post.
Even though this game looked promising on paper, this time it did partially fail to live up to the expectation. The reason for this is that both teams fielded completely different squads which contained a fair portion of youth.
However, the younger Italian players in this match gained great experience by playing in the international sphere of football.
Now for the Italian national team, the next match will be in March 2017 but rest assured that the youth in the squad does look promising for the future of Italian football.
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