💫 Italy overcome Albania scare; Spain down Croatia; Switzerland win | OneFootball

The second day of EURO 2024 delivered three entertaining fixtures.

Here's what went down.

Italy 2-1 Albania

Scorers: Bastoni 11', Barella 16'; Bajrami 1'

Italy had to produced a first-half comeback to see off Albania in their EURO 2024 opener.

The defending champions fell behind in the opening minute to Nedim Bajrami's rifled effort into the roof of the net.

Alessandro Bastoni soon restored order for the Azzurri by heading home at the far post from a well-worked corner routine.

Luciano Spalletti's side went ahead just five minutes later with Nicolò Barella's rifled effort from the edge of the penalty area.

After the interval, Davide Frattesi forced a good safe from Thomas Strakosha before the flag was raised for offside.

The Kuqezinjtë continued to rally in the closing stages as Gianluigi Donnarumma produced a sublime stop to deny Rey Manaj.

Italy's maiden victory sees them placed behind Spain on goal difference after the first Group B fixtures..

Spain 3-0 Croatia

Scorers: Morata 29', Ruiz 32', Carvajal 45+2

Spain made a statement at the beginning of EURO 2024 with a fantastic first-half demolition of Croatia.

La Roja began the game the brighter of the two sides, with 16-year-old Lamine Yamal looking dangerous down the right flank.

Just as Croatia were slowly growing into the game though, they failed to be alive to the danger of experienced striker Álvaro Morata, who beat the offside trap to run straight down the middle and finish beyond Dominik Livaković.

Morata was assisted by Fábian Ruiz, and it was soon time for the PSG man to shine for himself. Dancing through the Croatia defence, Ruiz finished from inside the box to put Spain 2-0 up within a matter of minutes.

Croatia would've been forgiven for letting their heads drop, but they pressed on and almost got one back when Joško Gvardiol played a perfect ball across the face of the goal, but Ante Budmir couldn't tap home.

Any attempt at damage limitation before the half-time whistle was a complete failure for Croatia, as Spain made it three when Dani Carvajal slid in to finish from a well-weighted Yamal cross.

Into the second half and confident Spain were playing expansive football, and there was almost an historic goal from Yamal, but Livaković pulled off an excellent stop to deny the youngster.

It was Croatia who went close next, as Marc Cucurella made a sensational goal-line clearance to deny an almost certain goal from Josip Stanišić.

With just over 12 minutes to play, Spain conceded a dubious-looking penalty. Simón saved from Bruno Petković, who scored with the rebound, but the goal was ruled out for encroachment.

At that point, the game was won and it was simply a case of managing the final minutes as Spain kept the clean sheet.

Switzerland 3-1 Hungary

Scorers: Varga 66': Duah 12', Embolo 90+3', Aebischer 45'

Switzerland took early control of proceedings, dominating the early possession.

Murat Yakin's side took an early lead courtesy of Kwadwo Duah, making his first competitive start for the Swiss. Initially flagged offside after he slotted past Péter Gulácsi, VAR ruled him onside and handed him his first goal for his country just 12 minutes into his first non-friendly start.

Bournemouth defender Milos Kerkez almost gifted the Swiss a second midway through the first half when his backpass was latched onto by Ruben Vargas, but Gulácsi made a strong save to keep the deficit at just one.

With Granit Xhaka at the heart of proceedings, the Swiss continued to look the brighter side as they pushed for a second.

But the next best chance fell to Hungary, with Willi Orban glancing a free header straight into the arms of Yann Sommer when well placed.

Just as Hungary looked as though they had made it through to the break, they were stung again. Michel Aebsicher, who provided the assist for the opener, curled in his first international goal from the edge of the penalty area after a long spell of possession to put his side firmly in the driving seat,

Hungary began the second half better, in truth they could not have been worse.

But they still lacked any real quality, squandering several set pieces and seeing Gulácsi tested on more than one occasion,

The best chance of the game for Hungary came just after the hour mark though, when Barnabas Varga headed wide when excellently placed as Hungary threatened to build up some momentum heading into the final part of the game.

Fortunately, he made up for it a minute later when Varga was again handed a golden opportunity. A delicious cross from Dominik Szoboszlai invited Varga to meet it, which he did with a stooping headed to bring themselves well back into the game.

Switzerland rang the changes as they looked to alter the Hungarian attack, and Fabian Schar headed wide as they looked to restore their two goal advantage.

But it was Hungary that carried the greater threat in the closing stages as they pushed for an equaliser, despite not testing Sommer, with Switzerland resorting to trying to hit the Magyars on the break.

They had the chance to do just that when Breel Embolo slipped in substitute Fabian Reider, but his touch took him too wide past Gulácsi and the opportunity was lost.

Not to be deterred though, Embolo pounced on a poor header in stoppage time to lob the ball over the onrushing Gulácsi to seal the result for Switzerland.