Roberto Mancini was far from satisfied with Italy’s performance in the 2-0 victory away to Hungary, booking their Nations League Final Four spot. ‘I didn’t like the last 20 minutes one little bit.’
The Azzurri knew only a win would be enough in Budapest to leapfrog Marco Rossi’s men and reach the Final Four, and that is what they achieved.
Giacomo Raspadori and Federico Dimarco got the goals, while Gianluigi Donnarumma also had to make several huge saves to keep the clean sheet.
“We did very well for 70 minutes, but I did not like the final 20 one little bit,” the coach told RAI Sport.
“When you are 2-0 up, you have to control the game, but we lost control of it and allowed ourselves to be pinned back. I didn’t like that at all.”
It’s a sign that the 3-5-2 system, experimented first in Friday’s 1-0 win over England at San Siro, is working well for the Nazionale.
However, all of this remains scant consolation considering Italy will not be going to the World Cup in November and December.
“It’s important that we reached the Final Four for the second time in a row. Unfortunately, the rest remains, there’s no getting away from it,” continued the CT.
“The lads did well to get back on track in an extremely difficult group, now we have more work to do.”
Italy now have a target to aim for in 2023, playing the Nations League Final Four in the Netherlands and then European Championship qualifiers.
“We need to just get through December, after that it will feel easier…”
With no mancini, Calabria, spinazzola, tonali, verratti, pellegrini, Locatelli, Positano, Berardi, chiesa, zaniolo and even Immobile, I thought we wouldn’t like any of the last 180 minutes, but were left pleasantly surprised.