Scotland Euro 2020 opponents Czech Republic suffer embarrassment in pre-tournament friendly

Scotland’s Euro 2020 opponents Czech Republic suffered a humbling defeat in their first pre-tournament warm-up game with a 4-0 loss away to Italy.

Ciro Immobile celebrates with his team-mates after giving Italy the lead. Picture: Getty

The visitors found themselves 2-0 down before the break as goals from Ciro Immobile and Nicolo Barella gave Roberto Mancini’s side a comfortable advantage going into the second period.

Played in front of an empty ground at Bologna’s Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, the Italians added to their advantage on 66 minutes through Lorenzo Insigne before Domenico Berardi wrapped up the scoring seven minutes later.

The Czech’s were playing in their first contest since the last round of World Cup qualifiers. They performed excellently in two of those matches, defeating Estonia 6-2 away from home before holding World No.1s Belgium to a 1-1 draw, but were beaten 1-0 in Wales in their final encounter.

Jaroslav Šilhavý’s side will now face Albania on Tuesday in a final friendly before squaring off against Scotland in their opening Group D match of Euro 2020 on June 14.

Message from the editor

Get a year of unlimited access to all The Scotsman's sport coverage without the need for a full subscription. Expert analysis of the biggest games, exclusive interviews, live blogs, transfer news and 70 per cent fewer ads on Scotsman.com - all for less than £1 a week. Subscribe to us today