Riccardo Calafiori scored his first goal for Italy on Monday, admitting it was a special night for him amid praise from Italy head coach Roberto Mancini.
Riccardo Calafiori has made himself a key starter for Italy when fit and available, but the left-back had never scored a goal for his national team before Monday night.
The Arsenal player picked a good time to put that right, netting to give Italy the lead over Turkiye in the 64th minute, just three minutes after Turkiye had scored an equaliser for 1-1.
Calafiori rose highest and powered home a header from a free-kick, admitting after Italy’s 3-1 victory that the venue of the goal was also particularly special – the home ground of his former club Bologna.
“There is something written for me in this city and in this stadium, where I also made my debut and scored my first goal,” Calafiori said. “It was an emotion that is difficult to explain.
“I owe a lot to this club and these fans, I wanted to repay them. It’s been a long time since I felt a match like this in my stomach, in the end it went well, but I was really excited.”
Italy boss Roberto Mancini was certainly impressed, heaping praise on all aspects of Calafiori’s game in his post-match press conference.
“Calafiori is a leader,” Mancini said. “It’s not just on an intellectual level, he is an extraordinary player technically and physically as well.”
Given the international break started with boos from the fans and Calafiori admitting how much they hurt to hear, it’s certainly ended in a much better place.
With two wins over Turkiye and a very respectable draw away to France, Italy are second in their Nations League group with two games to play, and on track to make the Nations League quarter-finals.
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