Italy beat Greece 1-0 as Pio Esposito scores

Italy defeated Greece 1-0 in an international friendly on Sunday night. Francesco Pio Esposito opened the scoring, giving Italy their second consecutive win under interim coach Silvio Baldini. Luca Reggiani was sent off 13 minutes after his senior debut. The goal came from a Jeff Ekhator cross, with Esposito’s first touch and right‑footed shot finding the net after a slight deflection off a Greek defender. Luca Koleosho struck the post from a Seydou Fini cross before being substituted later. Pietro Comuzzo left with a suspected calf injury and was replaced by Reggiani. Reggiani received a red card for a foul on Anastasios Douvikas in central midfield, despite being Italy’s last defender at the moment. Greece created chances as Zafeiris hit the post and Donnarumma saved a shot from Pavlidis. The line‑ups featured Vlachodimos; Retsos; Hatzidiakos; Koulierakis (replaced by Rota); Vagiannidis (replaced by Tetteh); Mouzakitis (replaced by Zaferis); Triantis (replaced by Androutsos); Kiriakopoulos (replaced by Tsimikas); Tzolis (replaced by Pavlidis); Masouras (replaced by Kyziridis); Douvikas (replaced by Kostoulas) for Greece, and Donnarumma; Ahanor (replaced by Mane); Comuzzo (replaced by Reggiani); Chiarodia; Bartesaghi; Pisilli; Lipani (replaced by Dagasso); Ndour; Koleosho (replaced by Faticanti); Esposito (replaced by Camarda); Ekhator (replaced by Fini (replaced by Favasuli)) for Italy. Silvio Baldini will return to the Italy U21 squad after the match. Italy’s next fixture is against Belgium in the Nations League on September 25, and Serie A resumes on August 23. Alessandro Sabattini captured the scene in Cesena.