England 3-3 Italy

Wembley is off and running and the first match has been played, but the story of the day has been claimed by an unlikely source.

Grabbing both the fastest goal at Wembley, and the first hat-trick at the new Stadium, Gianpaolo Pazzini earned a draw for the visitors in a thrilling contest.

Italy shocked the home crowd with the first goal in the new stadium after just 29 seconds, Gianpaolo Pazzini the man who will go down in history as the first player to score at Wembley.

It was a historic and surprising moment as the Italian forward burst through the England midfield and fired a right-footed shot from 20 yards. Deflecting off the thigh of Anton Ferdinand, the looping effort left Lee Camp stranded in goal and Pierluigi Casiraghi's side were ahead.

With people in the crowd still taking their seats it is fair to say that many were caught cold as the first goal went in, with so little of the game gone you could not say that the goal was against the run of play, but the Three Lions soon showed that they mean't business.

David Bentley quickly got a grip of the game and started to pull the strings in midfield, crossing the ball with authority and showing his desire to get England back on level terms.The first chance fell to Leroy Lita, although the acrobatic attempt after five minutes lacked the pace to trouble Curci.

Moments later Bentley sent in a cross that had Curci scrambling to tip the ball over the bar for a corner. After half an hour Bentley had levelled the scores and given the first Wembley crowd something to cheer about.

After being brought down on the edge of the box, Bentley dusted himself down and curled home a delightful goal. It was no more than the Blackburn midfielder deserved after taking charge and forcing his way into the match.

Both Agbonlahor and Bentley had opportunities to give the Three Lions the lead shortly before half time, but the two sides went into the break on level terms.

Wayne Routledge gave England the lead just seven minutes into the second period, combining with the substitute Matt Derbyshire to create a fine goal. Derbyshire angled a superb through ball which evaded Chiellini and Routledge calmly sidefooted the ball home.

Italy were only behind for 60 seconds and it was Pazzini again to torment the home side. The Fiorentina striker was on hand to steer the ball into the roof of the net from point blank range.

The attacking nature of the game showed no sign of abating as England promptly replied in kind with a strike from another Blackburn forward Matt Derbyshire. James Milner had only been on the pitch a few minutes before making his impact, and his cross was finished with aplomb by Derbyshire to edge England ahead once more.

With the goalscoring seemingly never-ending Pazzini claimed another milestone on an incredible day for the Italian forward, striking low and hard past Camp in the 68th minute he grabbed the very first hat-trick.

An incredible game and a fitting way to open the New Wembley, everyone in the ground will remember the day they saw Wembley reborn.

Teams:

England: Lee Camp, Liam Rosenior (Justin Hoyte 57), Leighton Baines, Nigel Reo-Coker (c), Anton Ferdinand, Gary Cahill, David Bentley (Ashley Young 87), Leroy Lita, Kieran Richardson (Tom Huddlestone 79), Gabriel Agbonlahor (Matt Derbyshire 46), Wayne Routledge (James Milner 57)

Subs Not Used: Ben Alnwick, Liam Ridgewell, Lee Cattermole, Cameron Jerome, Joe Hart

Goals: Bentley 30, Routledge 52, Derbyshire 58

Italy: Gianluca Curci, Marco Andreolli, Giorgio Chiellini (c) (Domenico Criscito 62), Antonio Nocerino (Andrea Lazzari 62), Andrea Mantovani (Andrea Coda 62), Alessandro Potenza (Andrea Raggi 46), Riccardo Montolivo, Guiseppe Rossi (Arturo Lupoli 62), Gianpaolo Pazzini (Graziano Pelle 79), Alessandro Rosina, Simone Padoin (Raffaele De Martino 45)

Subs Not Used: Emiliano Viviano, Daniele Dessena, Gabriele Paonessa

Goals: Pazzini 1, 53, 68

Attendance: 55,700

Officials

Referee Pieter Vink (Holland)
Assistants Patrick Gerritsen (Holland) and Wilco Lobbert (Holland)
Fourth Official Chris Foy (England)

Kit Colours

England White shirts, Blue shorts, White socks
Goalkeeper Aubergine

Italy Blue shirts, White shorts, Blue socks
Goalkeeper Gold