Despite defeat to Portugal, Italy coach Roberto Mancini was happy with the effort his side put into the match and didn’t this Monday’s opponents were superior to his Azzurri charges.
The Azzurri went to Lisbon off the back of a 1-1 draw with Poland, and didn’t improve much on what was a poor performance in Bologna, with Andre Silva dealing the killer blow for Portugal on Monday evening.
“I have to go down my road, and of course losing isn’t fun,” Mancini told the press. “[I’m happy] when my players put everything they have into a game, which they did against Portugal, we just have to be a bit more incisive.
“By the time the next games come around we will have players who are in better physical form.
“I have some players who I am certain will play, there aren’t many though. There are a lot of other players, some injured, who are also important for the team.
“Portugal weren’t superior to us, but they are the European champions. They have players who are always at the top level and in the second half they played a lot of youngsters.
“I liked the fact we kept trying to the end, we took risks which almost resulted in us conceding, but we believed we could get back into the game until the very end.
“We don’t like losing, and it is bad to lose, but it is also true that we have to take risks and get experience in games like these, otherwise it is hard to move forward quickly. We might come under more pressure, but that means nothing if you don’t try [to win].”
Italy have it all to do if they are to win Group 3, with Portugal taking maximum points from their opening two fixtures, while the Azzurri sit bottom with just one point from two games.
“Portugal won their matches, so their are favourites,” Mancini went on. “I think the group is still wide open though.
“We knew what they would be like, and now we know them better because we have played against a lot of different [Portugese] players.
“Obviously we don’t want to be relegated from League A, we want to finish first. You never know in football, so we’ll see what happens. Our main goal is to make the European Championship in 2020.”
