15 June 2022
The opening series of Nations League matches drew to a close on Tuesday night around Europe. Manuel Locatelli was an onlooker from the bench as Italy suffered a heavy defeat to Germany. Leading 2-0 at the break, the hosts added three more before the 70 minute mark at the Borussia Stadium in Mönchengladbach. Wilfried Gnonto and Alessandro Bastoni reduced the deficit for the 5-2 final score.
The defeat leaves the Azzurri in third place, one point behind Germany and two behind Group A3 leaders Hungary, who won 4-0 against England.
In Warsaw, Wojciech Szczęsny was in Poland’s starting line-up in his country’s 1-0 loss to Belgium. The goalkeeper was beaten on 16 minutes by Mitchi Batshuayi as Poland remained on four points, while Belgium climbed to second place on seven points in Group A4.
In the same group, Netherlands maintained top spot with a 3-2 victory over Wales. Matthijs De Ligt played the entire match that saw the hosts go two goals up in Rotterdam, through Noa Lang and Cody Gakpo on 17 and 23 minutes respectively. However, Brennan Johnson pulled a goal back immediately for the visitors, who thought they had salvaged a point when Gareth Bale converted a stoppage time penalty. Instead, there was time for Memphis Depay to restore the Netherlands’ advantage in the 94th minute.
The remaining two matches of the group stages of the Nations League are scheduled for the international break in September.
Meanwhile, in Ascoli, Italy Under-21 ensured qualification to the U-21 European Championships with a 4-1 win over Republic of Ireland. Juve inbound Nicolò Rovella opened the scoring on 20 minutes in a match that saw Filippo Ranocchia and Fabio Miretti feature as second half substitutes.
The U-21 Euros will be played next summer in Romania and Georgia.
