Roberto Mancini is already looking forward to the Euro 2020 opener at the Olimpico next summer after showing “patience” to beat Greece 2-0.
The Azzurri have won all seven games in Group J and qualified for Euro 2020 with three matches to spare, something the Nazionale have never previously achieved.
Jorginho converted a penalty and Federico Bernardeschi’s shot was deflected to secure tonight’s 2-0 victory over Greece at the Stadio Olimpico.
“The lads did really well. First of all, I want to thank the fans at the Olimpico for coming out and supporting us, even if the first half when we were a bit tense, perhaps nervous at being back in Rome.
“We wanted to dedicate the win to the kids at the children’s hospital,” the Coach told Rai Sport, referring to this week’s team visit.
Greece put up a brick wall for an hour, but were eventually broken down by a penalty.
“We’ll meet teams who sit back and defend. We were too frenetic in the first half, but should’ve patiently moved the ball around to open up spaces. Instead, we started long balls and that’s no good.
“It was a much more relaxed second half, we kept focused and achieved our objective.”
This was Mancini’s eighth consecutive win, so he could equal Vittorio Pozzo’s all-time record of nine against Liechtenstein on Tuesday evening, a run set in 1938-39.
“Pozzo is a legend because he won two World Cups, not for a run of nine straight wins. It was great to see the Olimpico like this and we hope it’ll be even better next June.”
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