Maccarone: ‘Italy focus only on victory in Belgium, Pio Esposito has great intelligence’
Roberto Mancini’s assistant Massimo Maccarone assures Italy will be ‘focused on only one result’ against Belgium this evening, and explains Pio Esposito has ‘great intelligence.’
It kicks off at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels at 19.45 GMT (20.45 CET).
You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens on the Liveblog.
The hopes were not high when Mancini made his return to the Azzurri bench with a 2-0 home defeat to Belgium on September 25, prompting fears of relegation to Nations League B.
Instead, they are seven weeks later on top of their group, having earned a 1-1 draw in Paris and leapfrogged France thanks to a superior head-to-head record after Thursday’s 3-1 victory at San Siro.
A point this evening would suffice to secure a quarter-final place in the Nations League, but Italy have their sights set on top spot and revenge for their loss in Rome.
Italy playing to win
“The lads are accustomed to a certain style of game, they need to not think about getting two results out of three, but only on the one,” Maccarone told RAI Sport.
It is reported that Federico Dimarco won’t be bumped into a more advanced role, because Mancini saw that as a sign of being too defensive.
Maccarone is of course a former striker at Middlesbrough, so does he give Inter’s Francesco Pio Esposito some pointers?
“Pio Esposito is very humble and eager to learn, he always asks for notes on how his games went. I try to give advice, he accepts it eagerly, and when you see a player act like that, it is a sign of great intelligence.”
