Friendly round-up: Audero tastes victory with Italy U21s, Linetty starts in Poland draw

There were three Blucerchiati players involved on Tuesday night as Emil Audero’s Italy U21s and Bartosz Bereszynski and Karol Linetty’s Poland contested friendly matches.

Poland recorded their second successive draw – following Friday’s 1-1 against Italy in Bologna – after coming from behind to secure a 1-1 result against Ireland in Wroclaw. After a tight, goalless first half, the visitors took the lead through O’Brien on 54 minutes. Poland kept pushing, however, and snatched an equaliser on 87 minutes through substitute Klich.

Karol Linetty played the full 90 minutes, producing a hard-working performance in central midfielder. Bartosz Bereszynski was an unused substitute for the game.

Italy U21s put their slip-up against Slovakia behind them with a 3-1 win over Albania at the Sardegna Arena in Cagliari. The Azzurrini took the lead through Dimarco on 27 minutes, before Samp goalkeeper Emil Audero was called on to produce a couple of vital saves to preserve the lead for Italy. It looked as though Giacomo Vrioni – the striker owned by Samp but on loan at Venezia – had secured a draw for Albania as he scored in the first minute of second-half stoppage time, but a quickfire double from Murgia (90+2) and Parigini (90+3) meant Italy recorded a dramatic win.