‘It’s disappointing’: Roberto Mancini makes no secret of his annoyance that Italy lost their first Euro 2024 qualifier to England, but says a draw would have been ‘fair’
- Italy lost 2-1 to England at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Thursday
- Defeat gets their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign off to the worst start
- Goals from Declan Rice and Harry Kane secured England’s victory in Naples
Roberto Mancini admitted his disappointment at Italy’s 2-1 loss to England in Naples but urged his team to hold their heads high, arguing they deserved a draw tonight.
Goals from Declan Rice and Harry Kane ensured Gareth Southgate’s side saw their Euro 2024 campaign get off to a flying start against the reigning champions in Naples. Kane’s goal, his 54th overall for his country, made him England’s record goalscorer, surpassing Wayne Rooney.
On a night that promised a fierce and hostile environment for the English players, they did a brilliant job of reducing the noise surrounding the game and the occasion, professionally pushing aside an Italy side that had the potential to cause trouble.
With his job seemingly under increasing pressure amid last year’s failure to qualify for the World Cup and a poor start to the upcoming tournament’s qualifying campaign, Mancini defended his team, saying they deserved something from the game.
‘We knew it was a difficult game, but we conceded two goals from two corners. The first half was tougher, obviously, we dominated the second half and tried to get at least a draw, which I think would have been fair,” he told RAI Sport.
Roberto Mancini urged his players to keep their heads up amid a bad start to the campaign
The Italy manager, under mounting pressure, said he felt his team deserved something from the game.
“It’s disappointing, but there’s a long way to go,” he added. ‘We started well with high pressing, which we didn’t do for the rest of the first half. I saw a great Nazionale in the second half and that bodes well for the future.
“England are dangerous on set pieces, we allowed the first one I think due to a distraction, then the penalty was also from a corner. I think we deserved to score at least one other goal after the break.
“We might be starting off with an uphill fight this time, but we hope to finish it off without a hitch.”
With Italy facing something of a crisis at the center forward position, this month they took the bold step of recalling Mateo Retegui, an Argentine-born striker who qualified for Italy through a maternal grandfather.
Retegui, one of the most powerful players in the Argentine division, got Italy back into the game in the second period with a cult shot past Jordan Pickford.
The sending off of Luka Shaw 11 minutes from time made things nervous for England, but they defended resolutely with 10 men camped behind the ball to see their first win over Italy at home since 1961.
Mancini said he found it difficult in the first period, but once he got used to the pace of the game and the physicality, he grew up and capped an encouraging performance with a goal.
Declan Rice’s early goal in the first half gave England a great footing in the game, before Harry Kane doubled their lead.
Argentine-born Mateo Retegui halved the deficit in the second half, but England held on
Gianluigi Donnarumma said Italy deserved to concede both first-half goals for being out of England
“He struggled in the first half as England defenders are physically strong and limited him. He moved better after the break but he’s young, he plays his football in Argentina so he needs time.”
Meanwhile, goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma said Italy gave away ‘the whole first half’ to England and said they shouldn’t be surprised they were consummately punished.
“When you give away the whole first half to a quality team like England, they’re going to hurt you,” Donnarumma said.
‘We need to build on the second half, where we rediscover ourselves. We showed that we want to continue surprising, we want to achieve results and we will achieve them in this qualifying phase’.