Italy took a decisive step towards a semi-final place with a 2-1 win against Sweden in Group A, despite playing nearly an hour with ten men following Mario Balotelli’s first-half dismissal.

Acquafresca scores
The FC Internazionale Milano striker had opened the scoring midway through the half with a terrific curling shot, but seven minutes before the break he kicked out at Pontus Wernbloom and was shown a straight red card. Sweden pressed after the break, but were unable to make their man-advantage tell, falling further behind on 53 minutes when Robert Acquafresca headed in. Though Ola Toivonen struck late on it was not enough.

Sweden press
The home fans were out in strength on the Midsummer national holiday and their team looked to pick up from where they left off after their 5-1 win against Belarus. They were almost gifted a dream start when Salvatore Bocchetti’s mis-hit back pass almost let Marcus Berg – the hat-trick here against Belarus – through on goal. Italy goalkeeper Andrea Consigli was quickly off his line to hassle the striker into a wayward pass of his own. Sweden, though, had seized the initiative and moments later Mikael Lustig narrowly headed over. Consigli had to be alert again on 12 minutes to hold Rasmus Elm’s low deflected free-kick at his right post.

Balotelli scores
Italy coach Pierluigi Casiraghi had kept faith with this front three of Acquafresca, Sebastian Giovinco and Balotelli, and the trio combined well on 18 minutes. Balotelli’s first-time ball picked out Giovinco, whose pass was fractionally too long for Acquafresca. The warning signs were there and five minutes later Italy were ahead. The increasingly influential Giovinco picked out Balotelli on the left with a chipped pass and the striker cut inside before sending a wonderful curling shot beyond Johan Dahlin.

Red card
Giovinco was running the game and showed his confidence with an audacious chipped shot from near the centre circle that had Dahlin back-peddling before gratefully seeing the ball land on the roof of the net. Italy’s ascendancy, however, was short-lived. An increasingly bad tempered game had already seen three Swedish players booked when, seven minutes before half-time, goalscorer Balotelli kicked out at the prone Pontus Wernbloom and was dismissed.

Acquafresca scores
Sweden had fallen behind in their three previous matches and recovered to win and they scented a chance again here, Emir Bajrami firing over before the break. Two minutes after the restart Berg also came close when he lashed a shot across the face of goal. It was Italy, though, who struck next. Giovinco won a free-kick near the corner flag and took it himself, whipping a ball into the near post where Acquafresca, the Azzurrini’s top scorer in qualifying, gleefully headed into the far corner.

Toivonen consolation
Sweden rallied and twice Toivonen dragged wide when well placed while Consigli got down well to keep out Wernbloom’s low strike. Sweden introduced Labinot Harbuzi and Martin Olsson midway through the half and the latter twice came close before the hosts’ pressure finally told two minutes from time as Toivonen lashed in. It came too late to save the game, however, and Italy will face Belarus on Tuesday confident of claiming a place in the last four while Sweden have it all to do against Serbia.

Line Ups

Sweden: Dahlin; Lustig, Bjasmyr, Bengtsson, Johansson; Elm, Svensson (Harbuzi 65′), Wernbloom; Bajrami (Olsson 65′), Toivonen, Berg

Italy: Consigli; Motta, Andreolli, Bochetti, Criscito; Cigarini, De Ceglie, Marchisio (Dessena 86′); Giovinco (Abate 61′), Balotelli, Acquafresca (Rannochia)

Goals

Sweden Toivonen 88′

Italy: Balotelli 23′, Acquafresca 52′

Five-time European Under-21 champions Italy had to settle for a point from their Group A curtain-raiser against Serbia in Helsingborg.

Close contest
Italy’s first-half ascendancy gave way to a much-improved Serbian showing after the break as a crowd of 7,158 was treated to an always engaging tussle between two ambitious sides. Gojko Kačar’s scissor-kick against the upright was the closest either team came to a breakthrough.

Three up front
The game started openly and the first corner, won by Italy captain Marco Motta, produced a free header wasted by Paolo De Ceglie. However, the first notable chance fell to Serbia as Nemanja Matić matched his persistence down the left with a penetrative cross that Zoran Tošić met inside the Italy area, sending his first-time strike narrowly off target. The Azzurrini’s response was a curling effort from outside the box from the diminutive Sebastian Giovinco – forming a front three alongside Robert Acquafresca and Mario Balotelli – which Željko Brkić tipped over. More sighs of relief followed from the sizeable Serbian contingent inside Helsinborgs IF’s Olympia as Acquafresca headed wide.

Ebb and flow
Serbia coach Slobodan Krcmarević chose a tactical template similar to Casiraghi insofar as three men shared the attacking duties. Tošić and Miralem Sulejmani – both wide players by trade – were supported by the versatile Kačar, a willing runner and raider. After half an hour Sulejmani scooped through a ball which Tošić was just beaten to by Italy keeper Andrea Consigli. His opposite number, Brkić, was similarly stretched by a firm Balotelli free-kick.

Revenge mission
The pre-match talk had been of an Italian revenge mission after Serbia’s opening-day victory over the Azzurrini in the 2007 finals. Increasingly, as half-time approached, that goal looked within reach. Giovinco’s cross-cum-shot had Brkić back-pedalling. Salvatore Bocchetti spurned a shooting opportunity; Balotelli did not, rifling the ball against Brkić’s body. Yet the interval clean sheet appeared to vindicate Krcmarević’s decision to give Jagoš Vuković his competitive debut at centre-back.

Clean through
With Tošić sparking, Serbia began the second half as if trying to restore balance to a shot count heavily favouring the Italians. Soon another notch for Casiraghi’s men, though, as Acquafresca nodded a Giovinco set-piece into Brkić’s arms. There seemed little between the teams, although a gap did emerge in the Serbia defence when Giovinco sprang the offside trap from Luca Cigarini’s pass. Perhaps unaware of time and space, the Juventus talent lifted the ball tamely at Brkić.

Off the woodwork
At the other end the clever passing exchanges between Serbia’s attacking triumvirate – often prompted by the elegant left-footed midfielder Matić – were gaining in fluidity and frequency. Towards the 75-minute mark, Nenad Tomović forced a desperate save from Consigli after Nemanja Pejčinović touched on a Tošić corner. Still more pressure ensued: Kačar’s acrobatic strike rattling Italy’s right post, before a Tošić free-kick whistled past the left. The resulting deadlock put both countries two points behind the day’s winners, hosts Sweden, who beat Belarus 5-1.