Gigi Di Biagio was proud of Italy’s Under-21 play-off qualification, but warned “we cannot always fight back.”
The Azzurrini crushed Cyprus 7-1 this evening and topped their group ahead of Serbia and Belgium, so will be seeded in the play-off draw on Friday.
Gigi Di Biagio was proud of Italy’s Under-21 play-off qualification, but warned “we cannot always fight back.”
The Azzurrini crushed Cyprus 7-1 this evening and topped their group ahead of Serbia and Belgium, so will be seeded in the play-off draw on Friday.
“These lads achieved something remarkable, because let’s not forget it’s a step that can take us up high,” the Coach told Rai Sport.
“Today we are pleased, but we have to improve, as we’ve done nothing yet. I want to dedicate this qualification to Albertini and Sacchi, who promoted me to the Under-21 bench.”
Despite the end result, Cyprus had taken the lead in Castel di Sangro, just as Serbia had gone 2-0 up before a 3-2 Italy victory.
“Maybe we like making life difficult for ourselves. Despite not playing that well at the start, we still created numerous scoring opportunities and at the first cross into the box got distracted.
“We need to improve, though, because we cannot always fight back in every game. We must try to be more consistent and our objective is the absolute top, so we have to do better.”
This evening there were six different players on the scoresheet, plus a Cyprus own goal.
“It is significant that the goals are so spread out, as it shows the team has a very attacking philosophy with everyone looking to score,” concluded Di Biagio.