Gianluigi Buffon has spoken of his pride at wearing the captain’s armband for Italy in what promises to be a hard-fought clash with Holland.

Fabio Cannavaro misses the entire tournament with ankle ligament problems and Alessandro Del Piero is likely to be on the bench, so the goalkeeper leads his team out tonight.

“I am happy, because my debut with the Nazionale was many years ago and it was just a question of time, considering my age,” smiled the Juventus star.

It will be only the third time he has captained his country at senior level. He currently boasts 81 caps since a 1-1 World Cup play-off result in Russia on October 29, 1997.

“Clearly it is sad that Fabio is out of action and his absence is terrible for us in a thousand different ways. Above all he is a reference point for everyone, but those who do play are talented and will certainly be ready.”

Buffon and Cannavaro go way back, as they have been teammates at Parma, Juventus and with Italy.

“With Fabio we just need a glance to understand each other and he is one of the two or three in this group who can really make their leadership skills felt.

“I don’t know if I’ll be the one commanding the defence now. You need to talk only so much in these situations to give the right orders. I think our defence still gives us real guarantees and I feel very relaxed.”

Euro 2008 has played its first four games with Portugal and Germany standing out as early contenders for the trophy.

This afternoon France open Group C by taking on Romania, then at 19.45 UK time Italy face Holland.

“From Saturday we have been sensing the right atmosphere, from the moment they started playing. We are curious to see how ready we are for this appointment. It is very important to get off to a strong start with three points, as we have seen how difficult it can be to begin in stuttering fashion.”

Ref From channel4.com

An early penalty earned Croatia a 1-0 win over Austria, but the hosts dominated for long periods and will feel unfortunate to come away empty-handed.

Jurgen Macho was preferred to Siena man Alex Manninger between the posts for Austria and Milan stopper Dario Simic missed out for Croatia.

The Austrians were looking to do better than co-hosts Switzerland who lost their opener against the Czech Republic on Saturday.

But their European Championships started in nightmare fashion when they fell behind within four minutes.

Rene Aufhauser clumsily knocked Ivica Olic off his feet for a clear penalty, even if Emanuel Pogatetz was booked for his protests, and Tottenham new boy Luka Modric calmly stroked the spot-kick home right down the middle.

A Modric free-kick agonisingly whistled across the face of goal and the Croat fans drowned out the worried local supporters.

Roberto Donadoni aims to use “all of our technique and physicality” to defeat friend Marco Van Basten’s Holland this evening.

Italy begin their Group C campaign at 19.45 UK time against the Dutch masters and are brimming with confidence.

“We know this is going to be a difficult game against an opponent that will try to cause us problems. We’ll employ all our technique and physicality to get the better of them.”

The two tacticians are sure to be chummy on the sidelines, as they were teammates at Milan in the 1980s and occasional golfing buddies.

“I have a friendship with Marco that stretches back many years. We have not had the chance to see each other recently, as we took different paths, but the respect remains,” explained Donadoni.

“There are figures, like Arrigo Sacchi, who connect us and we all share some of those concepts we learned at the time.”

It is a tough test, but the Azzurri can look to the history books for reassurance, as they have not been defeated by Holland in 30 years.

“These are statistics that have very little to do with the current situation. The team is in good shape and is hungry to begin an important journey.

“The European Championship is a stimulating competition and I cannot wait to get started. The players know what they have to do. They are comfortable and confident, but not relaxed.

“We’ll see the first real response on the field and I am sure the right attitude will be on show. It might be counter-productive if we started out too fired up.”

The Coach refused to be drawn on his line-up, though he confirmed Christian Panucci has fully recovered from a knee twinge.

“He trained with the full squad and the little problem he had has now been overcome. Marco Materazzi perhaps had a slower start compared to the others, but he is improving and rediscovering his form.”

Materazzi must fill in the central defensive role vacated by Fabio Cannavaro, whose ankle ligament injury has ruled him out for the next two months.

Gianluigi Buffon takes over the captain’s armband.

Ref From channel4.com

An early penalty earned Croatia a 1-0 win over Austria, but the hosts dominated for long periods and will feel unfortunate to come away empty-handed.

Jurgen Macho was preferred to Siena man Alex Manninger between the posts for Austria and Milan stopper Dario Simic missed out for Croatia.

The Austrians were looking to do better than co-hosts Switzerland who lost their opener against the Czech Republic on Saturday.

But their European Championships started in nightmare fashion when they fell behind within four minutes.

Rene Aufhauser clumsily knocked Ivica Olic off his feet for a clear penalty, even if Emanuel Pogatetz was booked for his protests, and Tottenham new boy Luka Modric calmly stroked the spot-kick home right down the middle.

A Modric free-kick agonisingly whistled across the face of goal and the Croat fans drowned out the worried local supporters.

Samuel pulled back Niko Kovac whose dramatic dive impressed the referee sufficiently to show the yellow card.

Andreas Ivanschitz whipped in a dangerous ball from a free-kick, but Sebastian Prodl headed wide of the target.
Lukas Podolski was the star of the show as a brace against his birth country was enough to guarantee a German victory over Poland in Group B.

There was an air of high tension as the two rivals stepped onto the pitch after some considerable friction in the build-up to the game.

Poland were looking to reverse their hoodoo against Germany and erase memories of their defeat at the 2006 World Cup, while their opponents were seen as many as favourites to lift the trophy.

In the first minute Jens Lehmann was called into action as he came out for a punch but collided with defender Per Mertesacker. Fortunately for the ex-Milan custodian, Jacek Krzynowek blazed the loose ball over.

Just five minutes in, Polish-born hitman Miroslav Klose missed a gilt-edged chance to open the scoring when he went through on goal, but tried to pass to Mario Gomez with only the ‘keeper to beat and the ball narrowly evaded his strike partner.

Ironically it was an all-Polish move that cut open Poland for Germany’s opener as Klose beat the offisde trap to slide across to Podolski to slot into an open net.

It was dismal defending from the Poles, but the German fans went wild as Podolski shed a tear or two.

Poland slowly clawed their way back into the encounter and Wojciech Lobodzinski’s low cross fell to Maciej Zurawski in the box, but he dragged his shot wide.

Gomez should have done so much better when Torsten Frings broke down the wing and pulled the ball back to him in the box.

The Germans led 1-0 at the break after a flowing and entertaining first period, but there were signs that the Poles would make a real fight of it.

Brazilian-born midfielder Roger Guerreiro took the place of Maciej Zurawski and immediately looked lively.

The Eagles were pushing Joachim Low’s side back, but struggled to create anything more promising than a few speculative strikes from outside the box.

Ebi Smolarek was harshly called offside just after the hour mark after netting from a precise through ball.

Substitute Bastian Schweinsteiger’s rolling effort from 25 yards was a routine stop for Artur Boruc.

Boruc made a fantastic fingertip save to deny Michael Ballack whose blasted effort from the edge of the box was bound for the roof of the net. It was the kind of the stop that shows why the Celtic No 1 is a target for Milan.

But he could do nothing about Podolski’s second, which was a rocket of a finish after Klose’s miskick following some more charitable Polish defending.

Lehmann had to make a superb reflex stop to deny Saganowski from a Guerreiro cross with seven minutes left. It was a rare test for the German No 1.

Germany were functional rather than spectacular, but they got the three points they needed and did so with some ease.
Germany (probable): Lehmann; Lahm, Metzelder, Mertesacker, Jansen; Frings, Ballack, Fritz (Schweinsteiger 55), Podolski; Gomez (Hitzlsperger 75), Klose (Kuranyi 91)

Poland (probable): Boruc; Wasilewski, Zewlakow, Bak, Golanski (Saganowski 74); Dudka, Lewandowski, Lobodzinski (Piszczek 64), Zurawski (Guerreiro 46); Krzynowek, Smolarek

Ref From channel4.com