Italy 1-0 Bulgaria: De Rossi penalty enough to put Azzurri top of group

Date: 6th September 2015 at 10:45pm
Written by:

daniele de rossi italy bulgariaItaly defeated Bulgaria 1-0 on Sunday evening in their Euro 2016 qualifier at the Stadio Renzo Barbera, regaining their position at the top of Group H.

The only goal of the game came from an early penalty, which was calmly converted by Daniele De Rossi, who also saw red in second half.

The Azzurri started positively and almost had the lead within a minute when Graziano Pelle got on the end of Antonio Candreva’s low drive in the penalty area, but his effort was well saved by Bozhidar Mitrev in the visitor’s goal.

The aggressive start paid off after just five minutes when Candreva was brought down in the area by Veselin Minev and De Rossi converted the resulting penalty to make it 1-0 to Italy.

The hosts continued to press following the opener however Bulgaria’s first shot on target came after 18 minutes when Gianluigi Buffon had to make an excellent save low to his right from Ilian Micanski’s right-footed drive.

Antonio Conte’s men remained in control for the rest of the half but couldn’t extend their lead and went in 1-0 ahead atĀ half-time.

The home side continued in the same attacking manner at the start of the second half and Mitrev had to be alert to keep out a deflected effort from Marco Parolo.

Both sides were then reduced to ten men in the 55th minute when Micanski appeared to stamp on De Rossi who in turn angrily kicked out at his opponent in retaliation, with both men receiving their marching orders.

The dismissals didn’t open the contest up any further and goal-mouth action was at a premium for the rest of the game allowing the hosts to hold on for the 1-0 victory.

The win sees Italy move back to the top of Group H above Norway who beat the now third-placed Croatia earlier in the day.

 

Comments are closed.