Miccoli catches Portugal cold

Portugal 1-2 Italy
Juventus FC forward Fabrizio Miccoli settled a highly entertaining match at the Estádio Municipal de Braga with a goal straight from a corner as a makeshift Italy eventually proved too strong for Portugal.

Full strength
Luiz Felipe Scolari, looking to avenge defeat by the Azzurri in his first match in charge of Portugal one year ago, fielded his strongest side, but though they started brightly, it was Italy who ultimately served warning of their UEFA EURO 2004™ ambitions.

Rui Costa shines
For Italy, Giovanni Trapattoni's main focus was on midfield where AC Milan pairing Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo started together for the Azzurri for the first time in the holding roles in a 4-2-3-1 formation. But it was the Portuguese midfield which imposed itself in the early stages, with Rui Costa outshining his Rossoneri team-mates.

Valente strikes
And on five minutes he created the opening as Portugal went ahead after a flowing move down the left. Nuno Valente broke upfield and continued his run after laying the ball off to Rui Costa. The playmaker's first-time touch put it back in Valente's path and the defender finished off by sweeping his shot under Gianluigi Buffon from seven metres.

Portugal dominate
Portugal were dominating possession and a second-string Italy defence, unusually exposed in the absence of Alessandro Nesta and Fabio Cannavaro, were repeatedly stretched. On ten minutes Rui Costa put Pauleta clear on the right, but the striker sent a curling shot narrowly wide.

Italy regroup
Slowly Italy fought their way back into the match which began to open up as the rain poured down in Braga. On 28 minutes Valente deflected Francesco Totti's shot on to the crossbar, then Giuseppe Pancaro fired wide after the ball had fallen kindly for him in the area.

Vieri answer
At the other end, Simão Sabrosa headed a Luís Figo cross over the bar from close range, but it was Italy who struck next. Totti's precise cross from a free-kick picked out the on-rushing Christian Vieri who rose above Paulo Ferreira at the far post to crash a header beyond Ricardo.

Half-time changes
Each side made eight changes after the break, but to their credit the match maintained its competitive edge as two of the favourites for this summer's finals continued to play some enterprising and, at times, aggressive football.

Artistic Deco
Deco quickly made his presence felt with a dipping free-kick that Buffon did well to hold cleanly in the torrential rain, and Cristiano Ronaldo dazzled with a series of runs at the visitors' defence.

Miccoli winner
But it was the Italy substitute Miccoli who had the greatest impact, shocking an embarrassed Ricardo by scoring direct from a corner to put Italy ahead on 75 minutes.

Nuno Gomes back
Nuno Gomes' return after injury was warmly welcomed by the Braga crowd and the SL Benfica forward almost pulled Portugal level in the final minute, but Daniele Adani's terrific saving tackle as he bore down on goal confirmed an impressive victory for Italy.