After kicking off on Friday, UEFA Euro 2024 has already presented one of the most chaotic moments of the tournament: a surprise 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 put in the first goal of the match and give Albania the lead — and take the title for the fastest goal in Euros history.
Beyond being record-breaking, the Albanian goal was a big, underdog blow to the Italians. For context, in the current FIFA rankings, Italy is ranked ninth, while Albania is 66th.
The two teams aren’t exactly rivals, but Euros tend to bring out the chaos and competitive spirit in everyone. Soon before the match, a video of a fan interaction went viral, where an Albanian fan snapped a handful of spaghetti in front of a group of Italian fans. One Italian jokingly fell to his knees at the sight.
Albania fans snap spaghetti in front of their Italian counterparts before nations meet at Euro 2024. 🫣
This means war. 🇦🇱pic.twitter.com/nYzNkhVsqm
— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) June 15, 2024
It’s symbolic that it only took Albania 23 seconds to bring Italy to its knees. But even after Albania snapped 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 regain the lead as Albania’s defense crumbled like flaky phyllo.
