Mattia Destro was satisfied with his senior Italy bow, even though he wasted a great chance. “That’s the defect of the centre-forward.”
Mattia Destro was satisfied with his senior Italy bow, even though he wasted a great chance. “That’s the defect of the centre-forward.”
The Roma hitman impressed in tonight’s 2-1 friendly defeat to England, which saw his promotion from the Under-21 side to senior level.
“We wanted to win, especially me on my debut, so there are regrets about this defeat. I gave it my all and did what the Coach asked of me, so I’m fairly happy.
“Making your debut is always exciting, but as soon as you get on the field you have to focus only on playing your game. It’s a shame about the result, but we will work even harder next time.”
Destro had a particularly great chance when he cut in from the flank and dribbled through the England defence, but hesitated at the final moment.
“Unfortunately I only looked at the goal and not at my teammates, so I went for it. When a striker is there he tends to go for goal himself, which is a defect of the centre-forward. It’s true there were two of my teammates clear, but they understood I was going to go for it from there.”
Destro has just made his move from Siena to Roma, where he is part of Zdenek Zeman’s new-look side.
“I learned so much with Zeman and worked a lot too! He is a Coach who teaches a great deal to forwards and I think we’re going to have a great season.
“It was easy for me to choose Roma and I’d taken it some time ago. I took a few days to consider it, because this was the first time I’d received such important offers and wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing.”