Gianluca Scamacca admits he has ‘a lot to learn’ before he can become first choice for Italy, while he is confident Roberto Mancini can win more silverware in future.
The Azzurri failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup after losing the play-off semi-final 1-0 to North Macedonia in Palermo.
They therefore had to play this friendly in Turkey, who were beaten 3-1 by Portugal last week, and got off to a rough start with Cengiz Under opening the scoring after four minutes.
Bryan Cristante equalised with a header, then Giacomo Raspadori bagged a brace for the eventual 3-2 win.
“I think that as well as the result, what we needed was a show of character, the right attitude and to play as well as possible. We did that today,” Scamacca told RAI Sport.
The Sassuolo centre-forward was out of the North Macedonia match with a slight muscular injury and this was his first senior start for Italy.
“I know that I have a lot to learn and improve, above all in my movement, as I tend to come too deep to get the ball, whereas I ought to give the midfielders options in the box. With my physicality, I realise that I ought to be dominating in the penalty area. I need to learn from Ciro Immobile, he’s excellent at that movement.”
There were fears Roberto Mancini would walk away from the Italy squad after failing to qualify for the World Cup, but he did win UEFA EURO 2020 only eight months ago, so has laid strong foundations for the future.
“Working with one of the greats of football is extra motivation for us. Mancini has done an exceptional job and I think he can repeat that success over time. There is talent in Italy, the only difference is that in other nations the younger players are given more time and space to make mistakes and learn. Perhaps they have a different mentality.”
Scamacca: “Cosa mi manca? Devo attaccare meglio la profondità, come fa Immobile” https://t.co/Xxk3e6tA98
— TUTTOmercatoWEB (@TuttoMercatoWeb) March 29, 2022
Don’t learn from immobile. Look at someone else, anyone in fact just not immobile