Youthful Italy side edge Greece to make it two wins from two

Caretaker manager Silvio Baldini surprised many when he selected Italy's youngest and most inexperienced squad in over a hundred years, and the team, with just three prior international appearances, performed much as expected in a close victory against Luxembourg.

Following a promising beginning, notably from debutant Jeff Ekhator, it was one of those previously capped players who opened the scoring.

Unsurprisingly, it was Genoa youngster Ekhator who provided the assist, setting up Francesco Pio Esposito, who slotted into the bottom corner from the edge of the box via a deflection for his fifth international goal in only his ninth appearance.

Any improvement from Greece, who will also be watching this summer's tournament from home, was subdued, and Italy continued to press with Esposito testing Odysseas Vlachodimos.

The second half offered little improvement, as Luca Koleosho arrived at the far post to redirect Seydou Fini's cross onto the crossbar.

The match then became something of a deadlock, and when the hosts did create a chance, Tasos Douvikas was brought down by Luca Reggiani as he was about to break through, leading to a red card for the 18-year-old defender just 13 minutes into his first international appearance.

It was easy to understand why Greece had scored only once in their previous four games, as they continued to struggle despite having the numerical advantage.

The attempts by Christos Tzolis and Christos Zafeiris to change the game came to nothing, particularly the latter, who struck the post with just over five minutes left.

The Galanolefki were eventually only able to test Gianluigi Donnarumma in the closing stages, but to no effect, and the Heraklion crowd was left pondering what lay ahead for the Euro 2004 champions.

This international break was always going to be a somber one for Italy, still haunted by their defeat to Bosnia & Herzegovina in March, but they can at least take confidence that the next generation is in promising form.

Failure to win in five matches paints a bleaker picture for Greece, who will be 14 years removed from their last major tournament appearance by the time Euro 2028 arrives.