Italy recovered from conceding the fastest goal in European Championship history to begin their title defence with a 2-1 win over Albania Saturday, after Spain made a dream start to the campaign by beating Croatia 3-0.
Albania went ahead after just 23 seconds against Italy in the Group B opener in Dortmund as Nedim Bajrami scored to the delight of their huge support.
Bajrami's strike destroyed the previous record for the quickest goal at the Euros, of 67 seconds by Dmitri Kirichenko for Russia against Greece in 2004.
However, Italy kept their calm and equalized when Alessandro Bastoni headed in at the back post on 11 minutes, before Nicolo Barella's glorious effort put them ahead just past the quarter-hour mark.
That proved to be enough for the Euro 2020 winners, with Davide Frattesi coming closest to adding another for the Italians as he hit the post before half-time.
"It was a negative situation but we did really well to turn it around," said Italy's Federico Chiesa, who played in the final three years ago when they came back to beat England on penalties despite conceding inside two minutes.
"We had a flashback to the Euro 2020 final when we went behind immediately, and we were great because together we took control of the match as a team, just as the manager wants from us."
Italy, whose line-up at kick-off featured only five players who started that final against England, now move on to a heavyweight showdown with Spain Thursday in Gelsenkirchen.
Questions left to answer
Azzurri have plenty to digest ahead of their next Group B clash with red-hot Spain.
The Italians have their sights set on qualification for the last 16 and are locked on three points with group leaders Spain before the pair face off in Gelsenkirchen Thursday.
However, one point from their final two matches should be enough to secure a place in the knockout rounds given that the four best third-place finishers go through.
That makes facing Spain - who beat Croatia 3-0 Saturday - a less daunting prospect for a developing team.
"I'm pleased with them but we shouldn't be too pleased with ourselves," said coach Luciano Spalletti of a solid opening win, albeit one in which they had to come from behind after conceding just 23 seconds into the game.
Italy came into the tournament in Germany as something of an unknown quantity, despite being the title-holders, with a host of fresh faces in the squad.
Spalletti had only a handful of matches to develop his side after replacing Roberto Mancini last year, and the coach's international tournament debut was made even harder by being drawn in a fiendishly difficult Group B.
However, Italy dealt with a hostile crowd in Dortmund which was overwhelmingly Albanian and intent on creating an intimidating atmosphere to rattle their more illustrious opponents.
Huge numbers of Albanians swarmed the streets outside the ground and made an enormous racket inside, easily drowning out Italy's relatively meager support.
Ahead of the match the head of the Albanian football federation, Armand Duka, said over half of the Westfalenstadion would be filled with his countrymen but it looked and sounded like much more Saturday.
And the masses decked out in red and black unleashed a wave of noise when Nedim Bajrami, who plays his club football with Sassuolo in Italy, lashed in the fastest goal in the history of the European Championship to put Albania ahead.
'Kill off games'
Inexperienced Italy could have crumbled after such a rapid setback, and one which was brought upon themselves thanks to Federico Dimarco's sloppy throw-in which allowed Bajrami to rifle past Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Yet instead they fought straight back and were ahead with a quarter of an hour on the clock thanks to a bullet header from Bastoni and Barella's sumptuous first-time strike.
"It was a bit of a strange start to the match as a goal after 23 seconds could have really hurt the players psychologically," Barella told Sky Sport.
“We should have scored more goals and fell away a bit at the end, but we started on the right foot with the win."
The once-feverish Albania support was quickly quietened down and from that point on Sylvinho's team barely threatened at all as Italy calmly took control of the game.
Italy could have won by more as Frattesi clipped a neat finish off the post at the end of a brilliant passing move just after the half-hour mark, while Gianluca Scamacca was denied shortly afterwards by a sharp Thomas Strakosha.
And the one worry for Italy, apart from individual errors, is not capitalizing on chances created with two much more accomplished sides awaiting.
Italy were almost dealt a sucker punch in the final moments when Albania substitute Rey Manaj misdirected his lofted finish over Donnarumma after being sent through with a simple long ball over the top.
"At this level anything can happen," said Chiesa.
"That is where we need to improve, by killing off games that we are dominating."
Yamal becomes youngest player
The day was also notable for Lamine Yamal, Spain's Barcelona winger, becoming the youngest player in the competition's history at 16 years and 338 days old.
Morata's goal was his seventh at the European Championship, a tally which allowed him to move joint-third on the all-time list alongside Alan Shearer and Antoine Griezmann.
Only Cristiano Ronaldo, with 14, and Michel Platini, who got all of his nine goals on France's run to glory in 1984, are ahead of them.
"Of course this give us a boost, and settles us, but in five days we have a big game against Italy," said Spain coach Luis de la Fuente.
"Above all we have to stay calm, our target is still very far away, we have to just keep our feet on the ground."
It was a chastening night for Croatia, the 2022 World Cup semi-finalists.
They thought they had claimed a consolation when substitute Bruno Petkovic tapped in after his penalty was saved by Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon.
But the goal was ruled out by Video Assistant Referee for encroachment by Ivan Perisic, and Croatia now face Albania in a key game for both sides in Hamburg Wednesday.
RESULT
Italy 2 (Bastoni 11, Barella 16) Albania 1 (Bajrami 1)
