Italy, Spalletti: "The team confirmed itself but we suffered on set pieces"

Rome, 10 October 2024 – It ends 2-2 the meeting of Nations League at the Olympic Stadium in Rome between Luciano Spalletti's Italy and Belgium. A draw that leaves the Azzurri with many regrets, who started with the turbo on and, after just 2 minutes of play, they unlocked the result thanks to Cambiaso's beautiful goal, good at putting in a cross from the left by Dimarco. The 1-0 allowed the Azzurri to immediately unleash their powers, who took control of the game with personality and quality and in the 24th minute they even found the goal to double their lead thanks to Retegui, who re-taken the ball into the net after Casteels' save on Cambiaso's shot. After 40 minutes of domination, Pellegrini was sent off: an episode that decisively changed the course of the match. With the extra man Belgium found courage and strength, closing the gap with De Cuyper just a minute later. In the second half, the Belgian chase continued until the crowning of the comeback: the goal for the final 2-2 scored in the 61st minute by Trossard, which put everything back into question and forced Italy to cover up more in the last half hour to avoid a further mockery. The glass is still half full but also a hint of regret in the words of the Italian national coach Luciano Spalletti to the microphones of Rai 1 at the end of the match: “There are episodes that change matches like Pellegrini's expulsion. We then add the fact that we immediately conceded a goal from the developments of that situation. Sometimes there are matches that are marked not by the football played but by things that go beyond tactics and all the games. We had the chance to play well even in the second half”. The Azzurri's reaction in numerical inferiority was not lacking, despite two goals conceded from set pieces: “I would focus more on how we lost a couple of balls, even if we must then underline their quality in wide spaces. They have this type of one-on-one because they are top level players who play in top teams. They force you to double up and get deep. We have never conceded many scoring opportunities in front of Donnarumma and we didn't suffer in terms of play. We suffered on set pieces and they were also a bit lucky. The confirmations, however, were there. We saw the team playing with personality, being very good on the pitch and doing what had distinguished them in the two previous games. We had to confirm ourselves and show that in this game too we could play our chances and we had done it”. On the same wavelength are the words of Andrea Cambiaso: “It’s a real shame because we played the first 40 minutes really well. With eleven against eleven, I don’t know how it would have ended.” On his first goal for Italy: “We did a lot of great things and it’s right to look at the glass half full. At that moment I didn’t even believe I’d scored. I was afraid it was offside. I’m very happy.”