Mancini has got “his” Italy team back. A team that’s full of character, enjoy themselves on the pitch, and entertain their fans, a team that were more than capable of making up for the disappointing draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina. But most importantly they have now taken the top spot in their Nations League group. After the final whistle, Italy Head Coach Roberto Mancini gave his thoughts on the match: “There were only issues at the end of the match, as we were tired, and we definitely deserved another goal for that overall performance. I’m happy with our mentality and with our performance: a great match from all the boys, who played extraordinarily well out there. You don’t win eleven matches in a row unless you’ve got a great mentality and a good system in place. Even if the teams we beat back then weren’t on the same level as the Netherlands or Germany, if you win that many games in a row, it means you’ve got quality.”

There were plenty of positives to take away from tonight’s match, one of which was Manuel Locatelli’s debut: “We called him up because he’s a great player, he’s young, and he’s got plenty of room for improvement. He’s got everything. But I really feel for Zaniolo, I hope it’s nothing serious.”

National Team Doctor Professor Andrea Ferretti took stock of the situation: “He’s got a significant sprain in his knee, we’ll wait until tomorrow to get a definitive diagnosis. He was taken off the pitch not long after a long period of recovery and it’s clear that he’s worried, and so are we.”

Locatelli focused on the positives of his first appearance for the Azzurri: “This was a dream way to make my debut, the best moment of my career so far. I’d like to dedicate this achievement to my family and to my girlfriend. When you play with great players at your side, everything is much easier. Bonucci and Chiellini helped me a lot, and I hope I can continue playing with this group.”

“It was a great performance,” remarked Insigne after the match “we played with personality. We played really well, we’re all happy with the performance and the excellent result. We could definitely have scored more, but sometimes we let them pin us back too much and it was tough to get going again in attack. The most important thing was that we got the win, and we did just that.”

Chiellini, who this evening returned from a lengthy absence from action with the National Team: “We prepared well for the match, and we’re a group who have been playing at a high level for two years. After so many months and an odd summer it wasn’t easy to get started again. Today we won the game by playing well as a team, and we probably deserved a few more goals. At the end of the match we did well to defend our lead, because in moments like those you really have to step up. Now we’re deservedly at the top of our Nations League group, and we want to continue along this path in the coming months.”