Blues hit the right notes

Milan AC's Marco Boriello scored twice as Italy opened their UEFA European Under-21 Championship campaign with a 3-0 win at Group 9 rivals Azerbaijan last night.

'A good match'
Azerbaijan's defence had gone unbreached in their last three home games yet they were undone in the second half as the Italians showed the excellence that has won them four of the last six editions of the U21 championship. Cristian Zaccardo scored the visitors' other goal and the Azzurrini coach, Claudio Gentile, said: "We played a good match. We waited patiently and then scored three wonderful goals."

Sinama-Pongolle scores
Belarus secured one of the most notable results of the night with a 1-0 win at the Netherlands in Group 3, while the 2002 runners-up, France, started with a 1-0 victory over Cyprus courtesy of a debut goal from Le Havre AC striker Florent Sinama-Pongolle. The other Group 1 match brought Slovenia a 1-0 win against Malta.

Own goals
Three own goals, including two from Gerdas Aleksa, helped Germany to a 4-1 victory at Lithuania in Group 5. After going ahead through a penalty from Mindaugas Kalonas in the 16th minute, Lithuania lost their way. Goalkeeper Simas Skinderlis put the ball into his own net in the 40th minute and after Michael Zepek headed Germany's second in the 54th minute, Aleksa's two own goals sealed the win for Jürgen Kohler's side.

Resounding wins
Goals from Dusko Stajic and Zelimir Terkes saw Bosnia-Herzegovina through 2-1 winners against Romania in Group 2, while Norway beat Denmark 3-0 in an all-Scandinavian tie. There were resounding wins for the visitors in Group 4 where Sweden won 4-0 at Latvia and Poland dismantled San Marino 5-1. Dimitris Papadopoulos scored the only goal as Greece beat Spain in Group 6, while it finished 1-1 between Armenia and Ukraine.

Turkey leave it late
In Group 7, Helder Postiga's second-half goal gave Portugal a 1-0 win at home to F.Y.R. Macedonia, and Kemal Aslan's last-minute penalty earned Turkey all three points in a 2-1 defeat of Slovakia. There were 3-1 home wins for Croatia and Belgium over Estonia and Bulgaria respectively in Group 8, while in Group 9, Daniel Sjolund's 88th-minute goal gave Finland a 2-1 win against Wales.

Friendly action
In the night's friendly matches, Shaun Wright-Phillips's late equaliser earned England a 1-1 draw with Yugoslavia, while an own goal from Mark Clyde gave Scotland a 1-1 draw at home to Northern Ireland.