HAMBURG, June 16
Striker Wout Weghorst came off the bench to snatch a late winner with his first touch and give Netherlands a deserved 2-1 comeback victory over Poland in their Group D opener at the European Championship today.
Weghorst had barely been on the field when he slid home Nathan Ake’s perfect pass into the area in the 83rd minute to send the tens of thousands of “Oranje” fans at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion into raptures.
“So important to get the early win and for me personally it’s a dream scenario,” the 31-year-old said of his 12th goal for Netherlands. “I saw it coming and I felt the goal coming. Our aim now is to leave with the trophy.”
23 Seconds it took for Albania to score against Italy, making it the fastest goal ever scored at a European Championship. The goal smashed the previous record held by Russia’s Dmitri Kirichenko who scored after 67 seconds against Greece in 2004
As expected, the Dutch dominated from the off with slick-passing attacks. But they were shocked in the 16th minute when Adam Buksa, replacing Poland’s injured talisman Robert Lewandowski, rose above three defenders to flick home stand-in captain Piotr Zielinski’s corner.
The Dutch equalised in the 29th minute with a low shot by livewire forward Cody Gakpo from outside the area that took a deflection off defender Bartosz Salamon to beat Wojciech Szczesny.
Italy see off Albania
Dortmund: Italy recovered from the shock of conceding the fastest goal ever scored at a European Championship to beat Albania 2-1 on Saturday as Alessandro Bastoni and Nicolo Barella ensured the defending champions made a winning start to the tournament.
Tens of thousands of raucous, red-shirted Albania fans had the Dortmund BVB Stadion rocking when Nedim Bajrami blasted home from an angle after 23 seconds, capitalising on a rash throw-in by defender Federico Dimarco.
Amid the din, however, Italy held their nerve and equalised in the 11th minute when Bastoni headed home when a short corner was swung in to the far post by Lorenzo Pellegrini. Barella put the Azzurri in front five minutes later when he slammed home from outside the box. — Reuters