Italy-Portugal, Mancini’s words of praise for Juve and Chelsea target

17 nov 2018

Despite being held to a 0-0 draw by Portugal at San Siro this evening, there were some positives in Italy’s performance in their final game of this UEFA Nations League campaign. Italy were by far the better time and should have put the game out of sight with a range of opportunities, with Ciro Immobile missing two good chances and Leonardo Bonucci heading a free header wide of the post.

Italy head coach Roberto Mancini had some kind words, however, for Juventus and Chelsea target Federico Chiesa, who played from the start for the Azzurri this evening: ‘I liked him, in the first half he was good at boosting our superiority.’

Mancini also defined the draw with Portugal as “a step forward tonight from Poland, but the difference between us and Portugal is the defeat in Lisbon,” the coach said, “but I would do everything I did, maybe we could have changed the game on some more occasions, but that's okay.”

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