The comical own goals kept coming at Euro 2024 as Italy’s Riccardo Calafiori was unfortunate to see the ball ricochet off him and into the net to give Spain the lead in Thursday evening’s Group B clash.
Germany defender Antonio Rudiger got the own goal ball rolling in the opening game against tournament to give Scotland a late consolation.
That was followed by similarly blush-inducing moments for Austria’s Maximilian Wober against France in what would turn out to be the only goal of the game, and Czech defender Robin Hranac also slotted past his own goalkeeper to set Portugal on their way to a comeback victory.
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Riccardo Calafiori just the latest Euro 2024 player to put past his own goalkeeper
Albania’s Klaus Gjasula had scored another own goal elsewhere in Group B on Wednesday afternoon, giving Croatia a 2-1 lead, but made up for it with a last-gasp equaliser.
And Calafiori was the latest to fall victim to the emerging Euro 2024 trend, finally putting Spain ahead in the 55th-minute heavyweight battle after they had dominated the entire game without scoring.
Unsurprisingly, the goal game from the Spain left, where they had already enjoyed several good openings, with Nico Williams putting in a cross that goalkeeper Giovanni Donnarumma could only parry onto his teammate’s leg and then watch as it rebounded into the net.
Italy and Spain made just one personnel change between them with their starting line-ups, with former Manchester City man Aymeric Lapote replacing Nacho in Spain’s starting line-up. The latter had complained of a muscle issue in the build-up to the game.
Pedri had a first-minute chance turned over the bar after Williams got the better of Giovanni Di Lorenzo – setting the tone for a first half in which Italy were put under the thumb by their opponents for extended periods and the Italy full-back particularly struggled.
Italy goalkeeper Donnarumma had to react sharply again later in the first half to deny Fabian Ruiz a long-range strike.
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