Italy lift U19 Euro 2023 title by defeating Portugal 0-1 in the final

Final in Ta, Qali brings 13 day tournament to a close..

Defeating Portugal in the final by a margin of 0-1, Italy brought home their 4th U-19 Euro championship, their first since 2003.

The Sunday final saw a 19th-minute header by Michael Kayode open the scoring, the Fiorentina U-19 defender made the most of a cross from the left by Luis Hasa.

Italy were in control of the game for the most part, they were constantly in attack and dominated possession for the first hour of the game, with Portugal rarely crossing the midfield line.

After the first goal, Juventus u-19 midfielder Luis Hasa had a chance to double Italy’s lead, but was denied by Portuguese goalkeeper, Antonio Ribeiro.

The Italians were strong in defense as well and managed to create two chances in the second half to double their lead. However, both were blocked.

This was Italy’s 4th U-19 championship win since 2003, when they defeated Portugal by a margin of 2-0.

Their performance in the final was especially noticeable since Italy’s performance in the group stage was not suggestive of a successful campaign. In their 3 group stages matches, Italy had managed only one win against hosts Malta. With the other two games being a draw against Poland and a 5-1 loss against Portugal. Italy barely managed to qualify for the knockout stages.

On the other hand, Portugal had a dominating run-up to the finals, winning all their group stage games and defeating Norway in the semi-finals with the scoreline reading 5-0.

Comparatively, Italy managed to defeat Spain in the semi-finals by a margin of 2-3 thanks to a Lucia Lipani goal in the 85th minute.

With such a massive difference in fortunes leading up to the finals, Portugal were considered favourites to win against Italy.

However, Italy brought their best game to the finals and looked like a totally different side.

The tournament was hosted by Malta and was held across four venues, the Tony Bezzina stadium, the Centenary stadium, the Xewkija stadium and the National stadium in Ta,Qali. With the last one hosting the final.

Victor Barbera of Spain ended the competition with the most goals.