Plenty of character and plenty of chances created but not the finishing required. This was a sentence to sum up the National Under-19s’ second friendly against Portugal after their 4-1 loss against the same opposition last Friday. The Portuguese came out on top once more thanks to Bernardo’s goal in the 79th minute, the forward making the most of the Italian defence switching off in the play after a free kick.

The hosts failed to make it 2-0 with Embalo’s missed penalty in the 90th minute, but they’ll certainly be pleased with the result after the Azzurrini dominated the game for large periods. Bollini’s side however proved unfazed after last week’s heavy defeat, pressing Portugal from the very start and going close to scoring on more than one occasion.

Bollini spoke right after the game: “It’s a harsh result for us, we created at least five chances in the first half and we deserved to take the lead. However, I’m happy with the reaction that the boys showed, we managed to move past our 15-minute blackout last week and today they stood up to one of the strongest teams in Europe for a full 90 minutes. It’s the response I was looking for and I can say I’m satisfied with their behaviour and the work done in these last few weeks.”

After the four friendly matches played in the last two months, the Azzurrini’s next challenge will be in Emilia Romagna, where they will play their first games in the European qualifiers from 13 to 19 November against Slovakia, Cyprus and Malta.