Finally Italy! The Azzurri shake off the negativity and win a very heavy victory in the direct clash with Ukraine, almost decisive for the purposes of qualification to next European Championships. A negative result, in fact, would have put Italy in a very complicated position, whereas thus, considering the game less than the yellow-blues, the situation is decidedly rosier. Now Spalletti's team has its destiny in its own hands and can breathe a sigh of relief, even if the road to the Germany is still long and full of obstacles: success, however, brings it back to the launch pad for direct qualification, which is the best it could get, regardless of the quality of the game and individual performances.
Italy – Ukraine 2-1, super Frattesi drags the Azzurri to second place
The match, as often happens in such scenarios, was not resolved by one of the most prominent players, but by a "reserve" like Fraternity, deployed from the start only due to Tonali's injury. The Inter midfielder responded presently, even giving away one brace which also relaunches him in Inzaghi's hierarchies, which up to now has been rather penalizing towards him, given the three consecutive benches thanks to Mkhitaryan. The former Sassuolo player could not have chosen a better night to raise his voice, both in terms of the qualification issue (victory, as previously mentioned, was almost obligatory) and for the Inter issue, in light of a derby that will induce Inzaghi to a few more reflections than expected. Reducing the Italian success to Frattesi alone would, however, be superficial, given the good general performance offered by the team: in the end the result counts above all, this is evident, but Spalletti can archive the first segment of Italy with several positive responses, from Zaniolo (definitely better than in Skopje) to Zaccagni, passing through the always reliable Bastoni and the very faithful Di Lorenzo. Frattesi's brace (12' and 29') had made the match go downhill, but then an error by Dimarco favored Yarmolenko's goal (41'), thus reopening all discussions. In the second half Italy had several opportunities to get back to a safe distance, but were unable to score again, partly due to bad luck (Locatelli's crossbar), partly due to the usual inaccuracy in front of goal. Ukraine thus remained in the match, without however managing to sting Donnarumma: the 50 thousand at San Siro, after a breathless final, were therefore able to breathe a sigh of relief, celebrating a very important victory in terms of the European Championships, the first of the it was Spalletti.
Spalletti rejoices: “I'm happy, now we can work calmly”
“We must be happy, even if we should have had more quality and scored both the third and fourth goals – underlined the coach in the press conference -. Now I can work more peacefully, it was twenty days of total pressure. You have to be satisfied because it's not possible to always stay down there and not even receive a cross. We took two chances in the first half and two counterattacks in the second half, otherwise we get picky and it's no longer good because the team played a good match. Can we work better now? Certainly yes, because there were about twenty days of total pressure in my head, there were many things to understand despite having wonderful collaborators from the Federation, who gave me a hand in everything".
San Siro boos Donnarumma, Enzo Raiola defends him: "Only bullshit about him, but he has broad shoulders"
The negative note of the evening concerns Donnarumma, not for the performance, but for the reception of San Siro. That a part of the public (especially the AC Milan fans) could boo Gigio was predictable, but perhaps few were expecting such a "plebiscite", demonstrating that the Italian goalkeeper really enjoys little sympathy. “The boos? I would understand those with PSG, not with the national team – thundered Enzo Raiola, brother of the late Mino -. Luckily he has broad shoulders, but unfortunately other young people don't have the strength of him. We are talking about a boy who arrived at Milan and took the place of a gentleman goalkeeper like Diego Lopez, in Paris he took the place of Navas and in Italy he has been the absolute starter since Buffon's time. What are we talking about? Donnarumma is the best goalkeeper in the national team, let's hold on to him. When I read that Luis Enrique wasn't happy with him I felt confused: but how? I spoke to the sporting director and everything was fine, so people just talk bullshit."
