Italy star Federico Chiesa reveals what he was thinking when chasing down Mykhailo Mudryk to defend in a 0-0 draw with Ukraine. ‘He’s a good sprinter, but so am I!’
The Juventus winger scored twice in Friday’s 5-2 win over North Macedonia, which put them in a position where a point in Leverkusen was enough to qualify.
That is what they got, held 0-0 by Ukraine to secure their spot at the EURO 2024 tournament in Germany next summer.
“I was very tired, I gave my all, but we are very happy with this qualification,” Chiesa told Sky Sport Italia.
“At the start, everyone thought we would be a potential failure, but we did it, we qualified for the Euros and are very, very happy.”
It was extremely tight, especially as Ukraine had a very strong penalty shout rejected in stoppages when Bryan Cristante appeared to catch Mudryk.
“It was a real knockout match, even though we had two results out of three. We had two big chances in the first half to take the lead and those could’ve changed the game, but this is fine.”
Chiesa was attacking and defending constantly, including a moment where he chased down Chelsea star Mudryk on the counter.
“We were not in good shape defensively when I saw him run, so I thought we cannot concede a goal here. I know he’s a good sprinter, but so am I!”
The draw proves enough to take Italy to EURO 2024 thanks to a superior head-to-head record, having beaten Ukraine 2-1 at San Siro in September thanks to a Davide Frattesi brace.
We got the point and now the hard work starts in trying to retain what we won. We need the same team spirit like in Euro 2020.