Italy kicked off their 2025 UEFA Women’s European Championship with a narrow 1-0 victory over Belgium, ending a run of three consecutive H2H defeats in the process.
With this their third consecutive appearance at the competition, Belgium are beginning to enhance at the highest level, and even beat reigning champions England in the UEFA Nations League earlier this year.
Following a minute’s silence following the tragic passing of Liverpool forward Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva, they started positively here, too, getting themselves into several dangerous positions albeit without causing their opponents too many problems.
The first shot on target came from Italy midway through the first half as Arianna Caruso compelled a save out of Lisa Lichtfus, while Marian Toloba fired narrowly wide of the post at the other terminate.
Match statsBetopickIt wasn’t until the final five minutes before the shatter that things started to heat up.
Establish in the box, Tessa Wullaert hammered past the post, and Jill Janssens’ try from distance soared over the obstruct shortly after.
The Belgians would come to rue that Wullaert miss, in particular, when Caruso shattered the deadlock on the brink of half time with a well-struck effort from just inside the box, leaving Lichtfus with no chance between the sticks.
Caruso celebrates her goalČTK / imago sportfotodienst / www.
imagephotoagencyAfter the restart, Belgium tried to locate a response, with Wullaert heading straight at Italy goalkeeper Laura Giuliani around the hour mark.
Shortly after, the Azzurre possessed a fantastic opportunity to double their advantage, but Lichtfus did well to obtain down and keep out Cristiani Girelli’s clever backheel prior to Caruso directing a well-struck strike past the woodwork.
Substitute Michaela Cambiaghi later curled an try just past the post as Italy looked to offer themselves extra breathing space.
Ultimately, though, Caruso’s strike was all Italy needed to secure the three points.
Having been knocked out in the group stage of the past two Euros, Italy will now be confident they can reach the knockouts after just a second opening victory in the competition in their past six appearances.
Belgium, meanwhile, are up against it, especially with current FIFA World Cup champions Spain up next - a country they recently lost 5-0 to.
Betopick Player of the Match: Arianna Caruso (Italy)See a summary of the match here.
