Italy punish hosts Germany with penalty winner

• Italy beat Germany 1-0 in opening game of the UEFA U19 European Championship
• Federico Dimarco nets 78th-minute penalty as Italy start Group A with a win
• Germany dominate but cannot beat the excellent Alex Meret in Italy's goal
• Janni Serra heads the hosts' best first-half chance wide in the tenth minute
• Meret then denies the Dortmund forward with excellent stop on quarter-hour mark
• Visitors settle towards half-time and look assured in possession without creating chances
• Germany and Stuttgart's Max Besuschkow twice threatens at the start of second half
• Meret produces a third excellent save of the game to deny Serra in 56th minute
• Germany substitute Cedric Teuchert fires wide from close range before Dimarco strikes
• A competition record 54,689 spectators watch the encounter
  
• Next Group A games (14 July): Italy v Austria, Germany v Portugal

Guido Strechsbier, Germany coach
We played some good balls into the space and gave nothing away at the back, which makes it even more frustrating that the game was decided by the penalty. If I could criticise anything [about Germany's performance], then it would be that we lacked the final touch going forward and the real desire you have to show if you want to score. That gets punished ruthlessly at this level. We're obviously disappointed, but the tournament is far from over.

Paolo Vanoli, Italy coach
It was a victory that we worked hard for. Germany didn't give us the chance to play our game, but we coped with that very well. We defended well and then took our chance. Germany played very well and for that reason we're even happier with this result.

Max Besuschkow, Germany midfielder
It was an amazing feeling to play in front of such a brilliant crowd, and that makes the result even more disappointing. We definitely won't hold back now, and will come back even better.

Benedikt Gimber, Germany defender and captain
It's unbelievably disappointing because we completely dominated and then they scored with their only real chance. We're not frustrated, though, because we put in a good performance today, which is something we can build on. There's plenty of time left for us to show what we're capable of.