Italy head coach Roberto Mancini spoke to Italian public broadcaster RAI after leading his side to a 3-1 home win over France in round 5 of the UEFA Nations League group stage.
In front of such a passionate crowd, in such an extraordinary temple of football…
It was an outstanding performance, and the lads played brilliantly. I’m genuinely delighted for all the players and everyone who came to the stadium tonight. I really hope they enjoyed the joy that football brings here this evening.
There’s no doubt we all found it thrilling to watch and thoroughly enjoyed it. After a start like that—especially those dreadful opening 15 minutes—turning things around certainly wasn’t easy, was it?
No, the goal we conceded early on was the result of an extremely serious mistake. Unfortunately, these things happen in football. They should never happen, of course, but the reality is that they do. The key was that we stayed calm and composed after conceding. We regained control of the tempo and returned to our usual game, so, on balance, we fully deserved the victory.
Italy showed so many outstanding qualities tonight. If you had to pick 2 or 3 highlights or name your top 3 players, who or what would you choose?
There are so many positives to highlight, but unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that this victory ultimately means relatively little because we still have to go to Belgium and win, no matter what. That is 1 of the things that makes football so extraordinary and unpredictable.
Yes, but as you said, beyond the scorelines and points, the team's development and progress over the past month have been nothing short of extraordinary. Wouldn't you agree?
We still have a great deal of hard work ahead of us, and the road is long. Deep down, the lads must be desperate to make amends, put things right and finally move beyond the disappointments and setbacks of the past. As long as we keep taking things 1 step at a time, we will eventually reach a happy and ideal destination.
“Of all the highlights tonight, could you pick just 1 and tell us what pleased you most?”
No, seriously, I was really pleased with every aspect of our performance. When you face opponents as strong as France and concede just 10 minutes into the game, things can easily unravel and even turn into a heavy defeat. But we didn't panic. We stayed calm and composed throughout. For the next 6 or 7 minutes, we came under considerable defensive pressure, but then we steadied ourselves, regained our rhythm and started playing our own game.