Israel held Italy to a goalless draw in Ancona in the first leg of their UEFA European Under-21 Championship play-off. The second leg will be on Wednesday night at Tel Aviv's Bloomfield Stadium as Israel's seeks to reach the finals in Sweden next summer.

Italy had their best chances in the first quarter when Ohad Levita saved Luca Cigarini free kick in the opening minutes and Marco Motta headed over after 17 minutes. But after that the Italians created few chances depsite piling on the pressure. Bebars Nacho with a free kick that went wide on 40 minutes and Lior Rafaelov with a 64th minute effort could even have snatched victory for Israel.