After starting the qualifying round with four wins out of four, Riyad Idrissi and Marco Palestra's Italy Under-21 team's run has come to a halt. The Azzurrini, with two Cagliari players called up, lost 2-1 to Poland in the head-to-head match that secured them top spot in Group E. The red and whites remain on a perfect record, rising to 15 points, while Silvio Baldini's national team remains on 12.
Palestra played 90 minutes, his eighth appearance for the Italy Under-21s , while Idrissi remained on the bench, as he had done in the October matches. After this defeat, the Azzurrini will return to action on Tuesday at 6:30 PM against Montenegro in Nikšić.
In the first half, Italy hit the post in the 13th minute, with Cherubini heading in a cross from the left by Koleosho. In the 61st minute, Pisilli took the lead: the Roma midfielder skipped past an opponent in the box and acrobatically volleyed the ball into the far post . But Poland turned the tables in the final minutes, with Bogacz equalizing in the 83rd minute with a left-footed shot from inside the box, and Kuziemka taking the lead in the 87th minute with a powerful strike from the right under the crossbar. In the fifth and final minute of injury time, Italy was reduced to ten men after Koleosho was shown a second yellow card for a retaliatory foul.
