Albanian players at Euro 2016 to get diplomatic passports

Albania never doubted its coach, and that faith finally paid off.

The Balkan state hopes to one day join the European Union, and Rama joked that he would like to see Albania play England – which, as part of Britain, will exit the EU if its people vote to leave in a referendum on Thursday, though that can’t now happen given the way the draw for the knockout stages is working out. Speaking at a press conference in France today, De Biasi joked that he would be tempted to reach out to Antonio Conte to ensure that the Azzurri take this game seriously. “We didn’t get many chances, we played with our head, with mental strength”. This is a very generous team.

“In terms of the team, they have made the most outstanding case of playing football in Europe and Albania”.

Now coach and players must wait until the group phase of Euro 2016 finishes on Wednesday to see if three points are enough to qualify for the round of 16 as one of the top four third-place sides.

If they do advance, Albania will play on Saturday in Paris, or Sunday in Lille.

Memushaj’s driven right-wing cross was misjudged by Tatarusanu, who was left out of position as Sadiku headed back across goal to trigger wild celebrations among the sizeable Albanian support inside the Stade de Lyon.

Albania’s government says it will reward its footballers with diplomatic passports for having beaten Romania 1-0 at Euro 2016 and finished third in Group A.

“I was very pleased with our performance, and pleased we could give such a big joy to our fans”, De Biasi said. And if for the Red-and-Black fans of Albania a loss with Switzerland was more than they could handle, their desperation was set to go further because in the next match with France they will have to swallow a more devastating loss of 2:0. Ironically, yesterday we had fewer opportunities than the other two games, where we paid a little ‘pressure around us.’ Last night, we got rid of some of this weight.

So unfortunate not to claim a point in their opening two games, this time their tireless and valiant efforts paid dividends.

The team’s defensive spine consists of Lazio goalkeeper Etrit Berisha, Napoli defender Elseid Hysaj, and captain and Nantes stalwart Lorik Cana, formerly of Lazio and, with more than 90 appearances to his name, the country’s most capped player.

Instead, De Biasi stuck with his replacement, 22-year-old Arlind Ajeti.

“I don’t think it’s only the team who has done us proud – the supporters have done too. I asked Loric to sacrifice”.

Albania were fortunate Basha stayed on the pitch when he caught Hoban with a risky shoulder-high lunge after just six minutes, but they had to weather the storm as Romania continued to threaten.