Portugal edged out Italy in Friday's international under 17 match at Sixfields thanks to a Carvalho penalty.

The game (40-minutes each-way) is one of two under 17 international matches being played at Sixfields over the weekend with England due to take on Italy on Sunday (kick-off 3pm).

Italy started off the stronger with some nice slick passing and on 12 minutes a right-wing cross was met by Luca Pompolio who directed his header straight at the Portuguese keeper.

Switching to the other end and following a surging run from Pinto, Barros had a stinging shot well held by Gallinetta.

On 32 minutes Libertazzi connected well with a looping header from a deep cross but his effort drifted just over the cross bar.

That proved to be the last action of a first half lacking in clear-cut chances and the sides left the field at the break with the score goalless.

Italy made their first change on 47 minutes with DI Vitis replacing Conti.

A deep free-kick on 52 minutes found Carvalho but his header went just wide. Italy then made their second change El Shaarawi coming on for Pompolio.

Libertazzi came close to opening the scoring for Italy on 54 minutes but his powerful header from a corner whistled narrowly over the bar.

Portugal made their first substitution on 56 minutes, Beirao coming on to replace Da Silva. Pettinari was then shown a yellow card for simulation.

The changes continued on 63 minutes with for Portugal, Amorim replacing Pinto and for Italy Ceccarelli coming on for Carraro.

Carvalho then tried his luck from distance but his curling effort flew fractionally over the bar.

Portugal were awarded a penalty on 71 minutes with the Italian goalkeeper booked for bringing down Barros in the area. Carvalho stepped up to take the spot-kick, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way to give Portugal the lead with less than 10 minutes of the game remaining.

Portugal made their third change on 78 minutes, Marques replacing Barros.

Despite five minutes of stoppage time Italy couldn't conjure up a late equaliser and Portugal held on to secure a narrow 1-0 victory.

Teams

Portugal U17s: Joao Figueiredo, Joao Amorim, Tiago Ribeiro, Miguel Serodio, Rui Coentrao, Sergio ira, Reoberto Da Silva, Ruben Pinto (capt), Filipe Barros, Luis Gustavo, William Carvalho
Subs: Pedro Cavados, Joao Amorim, Miguel Lourenco, Andre Dias, Afonso Taira, Sergio Marques, Joao Beirao

Italy U17s: Alberto Gallinetta, Simone Sini, Alessio Campoli, Simone Benedetti (capt), Felice Natalino, Stefano Pettinari, Alberto Libertazzi, Luca Pompolio, Michelle Camporese, Federico Carraro, Giammarco Conti
Subs: Alessandro De Vitis, Mirko Ranieri, Simone Cremaschi, Stephan El Shaarawi, Paolo Frascatore, Simone Dell'Agnello, Tommaso Ceccarelli

Attendance: 162