After kick-off on Friday, UEFA Euro 2024 has already produced one of the most chaotic moments of the tournament: a surprising goal from Albania over Italy in the first minute of play.
Just 23 seconds into the match, Albanian midfielder Nedim Bajrami took advantage of a sloppy Italian throw-in to score the first goal of the match and put Albania ahead – and take the title for the fastest goal in European Championship history.
The Albanian goal was not only a record, but also a big, underdog blow for the Italians. For context, the current FIFA rankings rank Italy ninth, while Albania are 66th.
The two teams are not exactly rivals, but the European Championship brings out the chaos and competitive spirit in everyone. Shortly before the match, a video of a fan interaction went viral, showing an Albanian fan breaking a handful of spaghetti in front of a group of Italian fans. An Italian jokingly fell to his knees at the sight.
Albania fans nibble spaghetti for their Italian counterparts before the countries meet at Euro 2024. 🫣
This means war. 🇦🇱pic.twitter.com/nYzNkhVm²
— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) June 15, 2024
It is symbolic that it took Albania just 23 seconds to bring Italy to its knees. But even after Albania took the spaghetti out of Italy’s defense, it didn’t take long for Italy to respond.
Italy scored a pair of goals – one from Alessandro Bastoni in the 11th minute and one from Nicolò Barella in the 16th – to take the lead again, as the Albanian defense collapsed like a flaky filo pastry.
