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Italy shared a goalless draw with Serbia in their opening match of the European Under-21 Championship in Helsingborg.

Both sides had decent chances to win the match, with Italy getting the best of the first half before the Serbs came back strongly after the break.

But the two defences held solid throughout, and the nearest either team got to scoring was Gojko Kacar's stunning 73rd-minute bicycle kick that thundered into the far post.

After a cagey start to the game in which both sides seemed to be playing themselves in, the Italians went on to dominate the first half both in terms of possession and chances.

Mario Balotelli and Sebastian Giovinco powered Italy's attacks from the two flanks like a pair of jet engines flying the team forwards, constantly creating danger for the Serbians.

And though Balotelli in particular was heavily marked throughout, his audacious dancing footwork consistently saw him break the shackles of the defence to make things happen.

That said, it was Giovinco who had the first decent attempt on goal, a 13th-minute long-range strike from 25 yards that dipped over the defence and whistled just past the top left corner.

Defender Marco Motta had a similarly good-looking long-range effort 10 minutes later as the Italians strengthened their grasp on the match.

With five minutes left of the half Italy had three superb chances to take the lead: first, Giovinco drew a good save from Serbian keeper Zeljko Brkic - who was in superb form throughout the evening - before Salvatore Bocchetti unleashed a shot that drew another fine save.

And the keeper saved yet another near-certain goal just a minute later when Balotelli's Ronaldo-esque oversteps confused the Serbian defence into allowing the Internazionale man a clean shot at goal from 10 yards out; once again, only Brkic's point-blank instincts prevented a goal.

For all his brilliance, however, Balotelli showed his dark side as he earned a booking for petulantly throwing the ball away on 34 minutes, and he was lucky to stay on the pitch when a pitifully graceless dive should have earned a second booking.

While chasing down Nikola Petkovic in the final quarter, Balotelli caught the slightest and most inadvertent of brushes against the face the defender, and cynically threw himself to the floor as if scythed in two by a chainsaw in a clear attempt to draw a booking for his opponent.

That there was genuine contact, however slight, saved the striker from an embarrassing early bath.

As the sides came out for the second half the Serbians immediately took the initiative, and produced 45 minutes of football that was unrecognisably different from their lukewarm first-half showing.

It took a while for pressure to be converted into chances, however; but when Milan Smiljanic almost made it through the wall of blue shirts on 55 minutes the Serbians sensed a crack in their opponents' defence.

The Italians were shocked into coming back, with Giovinco having a couple of efforts with one in particular being a glaring error.

Just after the hour mark the diminutive playmaker beat the offside trap by a dozen yards, but mis-controlled the long ball through and could only toe-poke weakly into Brkic's hands from the edge of the box.

With 20 minutes left, however, the Serbs really hit their stride, with Nemanja Matic winning a corner that led to a string of chances.

First up was Nenad Tomovic's instinctive effort from seven yards that was stopped brilliantly by Andrea Consigli in the Italian goal.

But as the ball was pinged back in by the consistently-dangerous Tosic it ended up falling to Kacar, whose flipped himself into the air and connected perfectly with his bicycle kick that thundered goalwards.

The shot left Consigli no chance of making a save, but the far post was on-hand to save Italian blushes.

After the few minutes of frantic goalmouth activity the Italians closed ranks, reorganising at the back and keeping seven or eight outfield players behind the ball at all times.

Serbia, wary of being hit on the break, followed suit, and the two sides played out what inevitably degenerated into a scoreless draw.

Toby Keel / Eurosport