Roberto Mancini insists Italy never intended to win their Nations League group against Poland and Portugal. “Our aim is to be ready for Euro 2020, no need to make a drama of it.”
It kicks off on Sunday at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).
They drew 1-1 in Bologna last month, then both went on to lose against Portugal, so it’s a head-to-head to avoid relegation into League B.
Roberto Mancini insists Italy never intended to win their Nations League group against Poland and Portugal. “Our aim is to be ready for Euro 2020, no need to make a drama of it.”
It kicks off on Sunday at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).
They drew 1-1 in Bologna last month, then both went on to lose against Portugal, so it’s a head-to-head to avoid relegation into League B.
“My journey here started in May and the objective has always been to get the team ready for qualification to Euro 2020,” said the CT in his Press conference.
“Portugal for now are a better team and deservedly leading the group. Probably, although in football you never can tell, we’re fighting it out for second place with Poland.
“At this moment, Portugal have something more. Poland remain a very good side, with talented players. It won’t be an easy game, although we can play well.”
Mancini reiterated that winning the Nations League group was never really a priority for Italy, who failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
“When we started, the target was to reconstruct the side and make a decent impression in the Nations League, but that’s it. The rest is work we’ll reap the rewards of later on. It takes a little time, it’s not simple, but we’re trying to find the group that can do great things for the Euros.”
Italy have not won a competitive game in over a year, so far in this Nations League drawing 1-1 with Poland and losing 1-0 in Portugal.
“Poland had very few clear scoring opportunities against us, so I thought the draw was fair, but they certainly didn’t deserve more. Portugal, on the other hand, deserved to beat us. You can see they’ve already got the foundations in place.”
The Azzurri continue their tactical experiments, with reports Mancini will retain the striker-less 4-3-3 with Federico Bernardeschi, Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Chiesa in attack.
“In order to win, you need a forward who scores goals, but also other options that must be sought out. Just look at Napoli with Dries Mertens.
“We did very well for 60 minutes against Ukraine, then changed the shape. We must continue this path. The team that scores the most goals wins, but there are different ways of reaching the goal.
“You don’t build a whole new Nazionale side in five games. I only just started this project and the objective is to qualify for the European Championship.
“If we lose tomorrow, not much really changes. It’s not as if we’ll miss out on the Euros and never play again. It can happen to England, to Croatia, Germany. The Nations League was created just so countries wouldn’t underestimate friendly matches. I don’t see the need to make a drama out of it.”