BOLOGNA: Germany needed a Joshua Kimmich equaliser as they came from behind to draw 1-1 with a much-changed Italy team in the UEFA Nations League in Bologna on Saturday.
AS Roma captain Lorenzo Pellegrini gave the European champions the lead 20 minutes from time at the Renato Dall’Ara stadium only for Kimmich to strike at the other end shortly after.
The stalemate in League A, Group 3 came after England suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat away in Hungary in the same section earlier on Saturday.
Germany play England in Munich on Tuesday while Italy — looking to move on following their failure to qualify for the World Cup — host Hungary before travelling to face Gareth Southgate’s side in Wolverhampton next weekend.
Italy’s line-up here showed 10 changes from that game, with goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma the only player to keep his place in Mancini’s starting XI.
“We were playing against a great team and we matched them,” Mancini, who handed debuts to several players, told broadcaster RAI.
“We have good young players so I am playing them and hopefully they will improve together.” Davide Frattesi was among those brought into the side as the 22-year-old Sassuolo midfielder made his debut.
His Sassuolo team-mate Gianluca Scamacca, who had come off the bench against Argentina, came closest to opening the scoring in the first half against Germany as he struck the post with a low drive from range 10 minutes before the interval.
Serge Gnabry blazed over at the other end and it took the second-half introduction of a teenage debutant for the hosts to really bring the game to life.
The 18-year-old Wilfried Gnonto was sent on in the 65th minute in place of Matteo Politano and five minutes later he whipped in a superb ball from the right for Pellegrini to finish first-time.
However, Germany were back level in the 73rd minute as the home defence failed to clear Jonas Hofmann’s ball into the middle and Bayern Munich playmaker Kimmich fired in.
“Whether the point was deserved or not, I don’t know, but it was too little,” Kimmich told RTL. “We wanted to win.
“We know that Italy are in transition at the moment and didn’t necessarily have their best team on the pitch, so we wanted to win.”
The hosts pressed for a late winner but settled for a point as Hansi Flick became the third coach in the history of the German national team to stay undefeated in his first 10 matches after Sepp Herberger and Josef Derwall.
Meanwhile, Dominik Szoboszlai scored the only goal from the penalty spot as Hungary celebrated their first victory over England since 1962.
An experimental side failed to trouble the hosts, who were roared on by a 30,000 crowd largely consisting of school children.
Hungary were forced to play the game behind closed doors due to the behaviour of fans during their home matches at Euro 2020.
UEFA guidelines allow children under the age of 14 to be given free tickets under such circumstances and the Hungarian Football Federation took full advantage
Gareth Southgate handed senior debuts to Jarrod Bowen and James Justin, but the visitors never got going.
Hungary created the better of the chances, Szoboszlai seeing an effort cleared off the line by Conor Coady and captain Adam Szalai’s ambitious effort from just inside the England half dropping just wide after he spotted Jordan Pickford off his line.
The home side’s pressure paid off when they were awarded a penalty on 64 minutes as substitute Reece James was adjudged to have fouled Zsolt Nagy after the Hungarian left-back controlled a pass in the area.
James was booked as RB Leipzig forward Szoboszlai made no mistake from the spot to put the hosts ahead.
Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2022