Italy failed to capitalize on plenty of chances as they settled to a frustrating 0-0 draw with Group B leaders Portugal in their Sunday night European Under-21 Championship clash.
With a tough loss to Sweden behind them, the Azzurrini took to the Stadion Miroslava Valenty with a much needed adrenaline boost to put the Esperancas under immense pressure.
After just 10 seconds, Marco Benassi initiated one of many tests for Jose Sa in the Portuguese goal, and forced an early save that earned a corner kick. Moments later, Domenico Berardi showed plenty of menace and vision when he topped off a quick run with a succulent outside foot through ball to Andrea Belotti who was robbed of a one timed goal by the sprawling Jose Sa.
At the midpoint of the half Jose Sa produced his finest save of the bunch, as Marco Benassi pounced on a loose ball outside of the 18-yard-box and smacked a low shot labelled for the bottom left corner, but the Portuguese shot stopper quickly dove to ground and parried the danger away.
However, Portugal looked likely to score at the stroke of the 35th minute when Joao Mario spread a pass across the penalty area to captain Sergio Oliveira who returned the ball back to Mario, but the midfielder fired the ball well wide of the gaping target and failed to break the deadlock.
Momentum immediately increased in Italy’s favour at the restart, as Cristian Battocchio carried possession forward and sent Cristiano Biraghi to the byline for a cross that met the head of Andrea Belotti, who beat Jose Sa to the ball but watched as his glancing header struck the crossbar.
The Italians looked particularly deadly up the righthand flank for long stretches of the match, and Davide Zappacosta made the most of his possession near the corner flag as he wrong footed his marker to send a quick cross to the feet of Belotti, but the striker frustratingly connected his shot wide from very close range.
Portugal were guilty of not having a single shot on target until the 88th minute, when substitute Iuri Medeiros thumped a strong close range volley to the feet of Francesco Bardi who made the necessary kick save in the 88th minute.
A final array of shots from either side could not be buried, as Italy failed to claim a vital three points to assure a sense of survival in the tournament.
