Euro 2020: Italy coach Mancini cautious despite 'beautiful' win: There are six more
Against a sorry Turkey side, Italy were a cut above on Friday in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, where the Azzurri are unbeaten in nine matches at major tournaments.
A frustratingly unambitious Turkey were finally breached early in the second half when Domenico Berardi smashed a cross in off Merih Demiral and, as their opponents’ cumulative expected goals (xG) value of 0.6 suggests, Italy need not have scored again.
But they did for good measure, Ciro Immobile pouncing on a rebound to net for the third successive game for his country, before then teeing up the excellent Lorenzo Insigne for a lovely finish.
It was the first time in European Championship history that Italy have scored three times in a single match, with the win and overall manner of it seeing Mancini’s men make a real statement about their chances over the next month.
It had been difficult to truly gauge their seemingly impressive qualifying campaign because most of their goals came against massively inferior opposition. This victory was rather more conclusive, though Mancini was not getting carried away at full-time.
Asked whether this was just the first step towards the final at Wembley on July 11, Mancini told Rai Sport: “There are still six more steps. It was a beautiful evening, I hope there are many others like this.
