National Team Friendly

National Stadium
Spectators: 10300 (Terracing: 7725, Seating: 2369, VIP seats: 206) Beppe Maestri started the match with the kick off in front of an excited audience. Nikita Kudryavtsev showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Elia Burelli, who was totally free with the ball in the 5th minute. In the 7th minute Beppe Maestri shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Nikita Kudryavtsev saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. In the 15th minute, Damiano Di Carlo hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. Roman Baibakov could have scored with his fast shot on goal in the 19th minute of the match, but Dennis Matteucci made a huge save. Dennis Matteucci showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Artur Latypov in the 20th minute of the match. U21 Italy's Dennis Matteucci played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Artur Latypov in the 21st minute of play. 27 minutes had been played when some careless play by U21 Italy's defense caused the ball to cross the line for a corner. Artur Latypov was slow to take the kick. During this time U21 Russia's players had a chance to rest. In the 28th minute, Elia Burelli ran past the defenders and hit a shot which went straight ahead into goal. Nikita Kudryavtsev was frozen by the shot and now it was 0-2. After a rather tough play, U21 Italy's Demetrio Cacciatore got a free kick in the 31st minute. U21 Italy's Dennis Matteucci played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Oleg Igin in the 32nd minute of play. U21 Italy's Dennis Matteucci played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Oleg Igin in the 32nd minute of play. In the 34th match minute, U21 Italy was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Damiano Di Carlo to maneuver through the defense. In the 36th minute, one of U21 Russia:s players had the ball in front of the goal but got pushed and fell. The referee felt it was an obvious case and blew a penalty for U21 Russia. The referee gave U21 Italy a penalty, 38 minutes into the game. The penalty shot was made by Christian Fanfarone, who made a well placed shot into the net to the right of U21 Russia's Nikita Kudryavtsev. 0-3. If Elia Burelli had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 41st minute. The ball went over the crossbar instead. With a little luck, U21 Italy's Dennis Matteucci got control of the ball when Roman Baibakov tried to sneak it across the goal line. The crowd was extremely unhappy with the home team's performance in the first half. They were losing 0-3.

The players of the away team seemed most concentrated when Yuriy Rybakov stepped up to make the kick off in the second half. An unexpectedly hard shot by Yuriy Rybakov in the 53rd minute of play forced U21 Italy's goalkeeper Dennis Matteucci to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. 56 minutes had been played when some careless play by U21 Italy's defense caused the ball to cross the line for a corner. Artur Latypov was slow to take the kick. During this time U21 Russia's players had a chance to rest. A nice corner shot did that Aleksey Kalyadin got away a dangerous shot. Despite this Dennis Matteucci quite easily got ahold of the ball to make the save. Dennis Matteucci stood for a superb save when he managed to get hold of Artur Latypov's shot from short distance in the 57th minute. Beppe Maestri could have scored with his fast shot on goal in the 58th minute of the match, but Nikita Kudryavtsev made a huge save. The audience thought a goal was coming when Elia Burelli got free with Nikita Kudryavtsev in the 60th minute, but the goalkeeper managed to catch the ball with a huge effort. In the 69th minute Roman Baibakov shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Dennis Matteucci saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. The audience was convinced that Yuriy Rybakov's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Dennis Matteucci was relentless in the 73rd minute of the game. Nikita Kudryavtsev showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Beppe Maestri in the 74th minute of the match. 78 minutes into the game, U21 Russia's Aleksey Kalyadin nearly tore a hole in the net with a booming shot. Dennis Matteucci made a valiant effort, but he could not reach the ball in time, 1-3. U21 Russia made a substitution. Vladimir Petrov replaced Lev Beschastnyh. In the 85th minute, Beppe Maestri left the goalkeeper for dead before tapping the ball into the right side of the net. The U21 Italy fans were clearly happy with the effort and the scoreboard reflected the new score: 1-4. In the 89th minute Yuriy Rybakov shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Dennis Matteucci saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. In the 91st minute Filipp Yakovenko shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Dennis Matteucci saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. In the 92nd minute Yuriy Rybakov shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Dennis Matteucci saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. U21 Italy's supporters were very happy and cheered loudly because their team had won after a very close match.