Spalletti: ‘England will show Italy potential’

Luciano Spalletti praised Italy for their ‘professional attitude’ to beat Malta 4-0 and warned the trip to England will show ‘what our potential is.’

The Azzurri were transformed by injuries and the betting scandal that forced Sandro Tonali and Nicolò Zaniolo to leave the camp.

However, they were still able to earn a comfortable 4-0 victory over Malta at the Stadio San Nicola in Bari, as Jack Bonaventura marked his first Italy appearance in three years with his debut goal, followed by a brace from Sassuolo captain Domenico Berardi.

Substitute Davide Frattesi put the icing on the cake deep into stoppages.

“The important thing is the three points, never letting it be in doubt, without taking this test lightly, showing a professional attitude,” Spalletti told RAI Sport.

“You can see these players are eager to get to know each other more and play good football, so we are pretty pleased.”

Moise Kean played in a rare role on the left of a trident attack, attempting to fill in the gaps due to all those who were out of action.

“It was a good game from Kean, both as a winger when he took men on and used his physicality. He can be very useful for us. I congratulated him for battling for every ball and at some moments showing good technique too.”

Many changes will be expected for the next match, which is on Tuesday evening at Wembley Stadium against group leaders England.

A victory there would enable Italy to catch England in top spot on 13 points and cancel out the home defeat that was still with Roberto Mancini on the bench.

“That is a match where we can really see what our potential is. Once we have played, then I will tell you what that potential is,” smiled Spalletti.