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Albania took less than a minute to register their first goal of the UEFA Euro 2024 but they have written their name in history as it is now the fastest goal in the history of the competition. Bajrami took advantage of an error committed by the Italian defenders inside their box and sent a shot into the top of the net, past keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma on the near post.
Italy was able to comeback during their Group B encounter against Albania inside five minutes after falling behind a goal in the first 30 seconds. Albania took the lead just 23 seconds thanks to a Federico Dimarco error, as the Inter superstar threw the ball right to Nedim Bajrami, who penalised the full-back by slamming it home.
His Inter Milan teammates, however, have rescued the defence with strikes from Alessandro Bastoni as well as Nicolo Barella, bringing the Italians ahead 2-1. The first goal came from a corner routine that Bastoni headed in near the far post, and it proved to be the lesser of the two. Barella's strike was stunning, as the Inter playmaker smashed the ball from the edge of the box, putting Thomas Strakosha glued to the ground inside the Albania goal.
With Spain and Croatia coming up in the next two games, Italy will need three points here to advance towards the knockout stage, either they finish as the top-two finisher or by being the best third-place qualifier. Albania, meanwhile, is ranked 66th in worldwide rankings by FIFA, but qualified by unexpectedly winning their preliminary group over Czechia and Poland, both of which made the competition.
— اليورو (@Chanelle1933399) June 15, 2024
Whose record did Nedim Bajrami break during the game against Italy?
The previous quickest goal during Euro history occurred during a group-stage encounter involving Russia and Greece in 2004. It had already been reiterated that Russia would not be able to advance to the next stage by the moment they faced the Greeks during their last opening-phase match, however they were able to leave the tournament with a sense of accomplishment because they were the only team to defeat the tournament's eventual surprise winners. Dmitri Kirichenko of CSKA Moscow started his team off by latching onto an open ball and poking his shot home after only 67 seconds.