Roberto Mancini admits Italy ‘could’ve done everything better’ in their 2-0 victory away to Malta, but the important thing was to get points on the board in the EURO 2024 qualifiers.
The pressure was all on the Azzurri after losing the opening European Championship qualifier, 2-1 to England at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples on Thursday evening.
There was an early scare in Malta too, denied by a Gianluigi Donnarumma save, but then Mateo Retegui and Matteo Pessina had the 2-0 result sewn up after just 27 minutes.
“These are games where you have everything to lose and they tend to be ugly. We did some things well, others less so, the important thing was to win. We broke the deadlock early and could’ve scored more, but these matches can be strange,” Mancini told RAI Sport.
Retegui scored his second goal in as many caps and the Argentina-born talent is becoming a real discovery for Mancini’s Azzurri.
“He opened the scoring, which was fundamental. I repeat, he needs time, he needs to get to know European football.”
Italy now have three points after two games, while England are on six. North Macedonia have three points after one match, Malta zero in two, Ukraine zero in one.
Despite the result and clean sheet, Mancini was far from happy at the final whistle and indeed looked positively annoyed.
“These are odd games where it is difficult to get a rhythm going, there are no spaces to play, so you must have the best attitude to win. We could’ve done everything better, that’s for sure. When you are 2-0 up, you have the chance to play with less pressure and we should’ve made more of that.”
Terrible result! This was Malta!