Donnarumma: ‘Italy paid for exhilarating France win, nobody expected this run’

Gianluigi Donnarumma feels Italy were carrying a hangover from the ‘exhilarating’ victory over France, but the 4-1 defeat to Belgium mustn’t wipe out their other Nations League performances.

The Manchester City goalkeeper was one of the best Azzurri performers on the night in Brussels, managing to keep the scoreline down to only 4-1, especially with some incredible saves on Kevin De Bruyne.

Pio Esposito had opened the scoring, yet Maxim De Cuyper, Nathan Ngoy, Jeremy Doku and Diego Moreira turned it all around, with Senne Lammens saving the late Esposito spot-kick too.

“Unfortunately, this is part of the learning process, we started a new era, so you can have these ups and downs,” Donnarumma told RAI Sport.

It was hard to see this performance just days after the 3-1 comeback victory over France at San Siro, which put Italy temporarily top of the Nations League group.

“We weren’t phenomenal then and we’re not a disaster now. It was a wonderful night with France, and perhaps we used up too much energy to achieve that result, so were a little tired just three days later.

“When you play a match that is so exhilarating, it’s not easy to plug straight back in at the same level. It’s not an excuse, but we were certainly less sharp than the other day,” continued Donnarumma.

“Let’s be honest, nobody expected us to have such a good Nations League campaign, we had some really impressive matches, but Belgium were superior tonight, and we know that we must improve.”

Italy only needed a point in Brussels to secure qualification for the quarter-finals, so Belgium expected them to take a defensive approach and play for the draw, but that certainly was not the case.

“What we need to reflect on is that we allowed so many counter-attacks, so we must do better with the preventative marking,” noted Donnarumma.

“This defeat can and will be a valuable learning experience, the coach already said we need to lift our heads. It was painful, we all wanted to keep going in this tournament.”

Roberto Mancini is certainly trying to widen the group of players he can call upon for Italy, as this evening Milan winger Alphadjo Cisse received his senior debut, while Roma’s Niccolò Pisilli got his first competitive start.

“The coach is special, he can give us a big hand. We too have to help the younger players, and we know there isn’t much time because the European Championship qualifiers are coming up, but they need to play and gain experience.

“There are many interesting young players out there, but they need to play more often.”