Matteo Prati is the cover man for the Italy Under-21 team, who today drew 1-1 against their peers from Denmark in a friendly played in Cittadella. For the Cagliari midfielder, also captain, the first goal in the blue jersey with a spectacular volley from about 20 meters in the 37th minute . An excellent performance from him, given that at the end he also kicked the corner from which Ghilardi hit the crossbar on the last ball of the match. And that adds doubts about why he has had so little playing time in the red and blues: 332' in 8 appearances in Serie A, where he returned to the starting lineup for the first time in 2025 last Sunday with Roma, and 113' in 2 games in the Coppa Italia, where he scored his only other goal with Carrarese on August 12.
At the end of the match, when asked about his lack of use against Cagliari, Prati did not want to give an evaluation: «I always try to give my best, then obviously I am not the one who decides» , he said to Rai Sport. «Fortunately here in the national team I am finding continuity and we are ready to play a great European Championship». The Italy Under-21, defeated on Friday 1-2 by the Netherlands, will return to the field in June for the international event in Slovakia: opponents in the group are Romania (June 11), the hosts (June 14) and Spain (June 17), with all matches at 9pm.
On the Eurogoal, Prati explained how it went: « I saw the ball coming and I asked myself why not try . It went well and I'm very happy, it's a shame about the draw because we deserved the second goal: that's the regret». He will now return to Cagliari, where he should rejoin the team starting from Wednesday's training. The rest of the team is scheduled to resume tomorrow afternoon, again at the Crai Sport Center in Assemini. Adam Obert, who got injured with Slovakia , will also be evaluated .