Italy edged Malta 10-7 in Turkey on Friday at the LEN Under-17 European Championships. It was a David and Goliath fixture on paper which was all but that in the pool as Malta, coming from a victory the day before against Ukraine, battled hard to keep a tough Italian team at bay.

As expected, Italy took the game by storm in the early stages of the opening session as quick-fire goals from Jacopo Gambacciani and Diego Tresa gave them an early 2-0 lead.

But the Maltese youngsters refused to buckle and after shoring up their defence, Elijah Schembri pulled one back with a spectacular strike before Jayden Cutajar levelled matters with another exquisite finish to make it 2-2.

Read the full story on Times of Malta Sport...

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