Italy maintained their dominance of the European under-21 championship on Tuesday, defeating Serbia & Montenegro 3-0 in the final in Bochum to win the title for a fifth time in the past seven tournaments

Defender Daniele de Rossi headed in from a corner after 32 minutes to give the Italians the lead before two goals in two minutes from Cesare Bovo and Parma striker Alberto Gilardino sealed victory late in the game.

Serbia & Montenegro finished the match with nine men after defender Nikola Mijailovic committed a second bookable offence in the 34th minute and Branislav Ivanovic was given a straight red card in injury time.

In the third-place playoff in Oberhausen earlier on Tuesday, Portugal also won a place at the Athens Olympics, defeating Sweden 3-2 after extra-time.

Sweden looked to be heading for defeat in normal time but with seconds remaining substitute Markus Rosenberg scored to level at 2-2. Carlitos scored the winning goal in the second period of extra-time.