In the second part of his interview with Sky Sport Italia, Nicolò Zaniolo says he hopes to play at Wembley for Italy and claims he is grateful to José Mourinho who made him win his first trophy as a professional footballer.
Zaniolo spoke about his time in Turkey and England in an interview released by Sky Sport Italia on Thursday. He praised his current coach Unai Emery, but highlighted how he’s worked under many influential tacticians during his career.
“Everyone has given me something: Eusebio Di Francesco, Claudio Ranieri, Roberto Mancini and Luciano Spalletti with the national team, José Mourinho at Roma and now Emery.
“They are all high-level coaches and have been important to me. Di Francesco gave me my Champions League debut, Mancini opened the national team’s door to me, and Mourinho made me win the first trophy of my career. Ranieri was a great person and motivator,” said Zaniolo.
The 23-year-old won the Conference League with Roma in 2022, scoring the winner in a Final against Feyenoord.
“The journey we had was amazing,” he recalled.
“We started to win the trophy, so there were many expectations and it’s not easy not to disappoint people. We had a great path, then we fulfilled our dream of bringing the cup to Rome. I’ll forever bring the Conference League in my heart.”
Zaniolo will play in the same competition with Aston Villa this year.
The ex-Roma striker played two games under Luciano Spalletti with Italy during the September break, including one as a starter at San Siro against Ukraine.
“San Siro was one of the stadiums of my childhood alongside the Bernabeu, the Olimpico in Rome and Wembley, where I hope I’ll play with the national team,” said Zaniolo.
“When you start playing football, you hope to play in these legendary stadiums. It was a great emotion because we won [against Ukraine] and it was crucial to get three points. I was really happy because we put in a good performance. Now we can’t stop, we have other targets.”
Zaniolo made his senior Azzurri debut in 2019 under Roberto Mancini and has scored two goals in 15 appearances with the Azzurri.