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Roberto Mancini’s Italy kicked off Euro 2020 in style with their comfortable 3-0 win over Turkey at the Stadio Olimpico. Goals from Lorenzo Insigne, Ciro Immobile, and an own goal moved Italy onto their ninth successive win without conceding and are now 28 games unbeaten.
For what the country has endured with the pandemic and the genuine hurt of not qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, the curtain-raiser couldn’t have been any more inspirational.
Andrea Bocelli’s rendition of Nessun Dorma invoked immediate memories of times when football was at its purest at the World Cup in Italy in 1990. The tenor delivered an almost message of hope to the masses that better times are ahead for football and its long-suffering fans.
To kick off the tournament with that song was poignant for what was to be served up next. Bocelli hit every note with craft and passion, and once the whistle got proceedings underway, Mancini’s men picked up the baton.
From the off, the Italians had laid down their intentions from midfield, neat in possession to work the play from right to left. The challenge that Turkey posed was to pack men behind the ball to stifle the home side.
Generals Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini were given the freedom of Rome to carry the ball out from defence. With the pair so comfortable in possession, both found themselves as extra midfielders at times as they drove Turkey back into their own half.
With Italy patiently working the ball out to the left-hand side, Roma full-back Leonardo Spinazolla was almost a left-winger for the duration of the match, relishing the opportunity to face up his opposing number, Zeki Celik, at every given moment.
Whilst Lorenzo Insigne, Chiellini and Ciro Immobile all had first-half chances to open the scoring, neither were clear cut opportunities. With the game still goalless, Italy started to hit speculative shots from a distance and grew increasingly louder with appeals for handball decisions. Going into the break, the home side were starting to show a little frustration.
Whilst some teams might wilt in the event of having nothing to show for the endeavours, whatever Mancini had said at halftime, Italy came out in the second period with added purpose. They were simply relentless in their pursuit of victory.
If there were any suggestion of nerves creeping in, they evaporated instantaneously from the moment hapless Turkish centre back Merih Demiral turned in Domenico Berardi’s cross in the 52nd minute. As the volume went up in the Stadio Olimpico, The Azzuri went up the gears in an impressive second-half showing.
Whilst Spinazzolla, Insigne and Immobile will grab most of this morning’s headlines for their performances, Jorginho and Nicolo Barella were excellent in the Italian midfield and played pivotal roles in their opening games success. Their domination was such it forced Turkey manager Şenol Güneş into changing the midfield setup, but it was to no avail.
Whilst Turkey’s unwillingness to take the game to the Italians eventually became their undoing, the task in hand still had to be completed. Jorginho’s performance was of a man that likes to go under the radar, but his passing completion stats of 94% and 83% in duals won tell their own story in the effectiveness of his evening.
The 29-year-old Chelsea man mopped up repeatedly through tackles and interceptions at the base of Italy’s midfield. Through his positional sense to retain possession, he was able to keep the rhythm and intensity in the home sides game that bore full fruits in a game they dominated.
Barella, occupying the right-hand midfield birth, started tentatively, but he grew into the game with each touch. Not in a rush to force the play given the occasion, Barella felt his way into the half with simple one-two touch passing, which kept the hosts’ tempo ticking over. His 90% passing success rate was the perfect complement to Jorginho’s contribution, as the Turks tired chasing the ball on a humid evening.
Barella’s movement off the ball in the dying moments of the first-half almost enabled Ciro Immobile to twist and get a shot away, which threatened to break the deadlock before half-time. His contributions after the break were more noteworthy, however. Playing in Berardi for the opening goal, he was once more involved in Immobile’s and Italy’s decisive second in the 66th minute.
Winning the ball back from substitute İrfan Kahveci in his own half, Barella brought the ball under control and moved towards his own goal to find space away from the attention of two onrushing Turkish players. He nonchalantly found Manuel Locatelli on halfway with a delightful pass with the outside of his boot and it was a delightful switch of the play.
The moment lifted the crowd as Italy embarked on another assault on the Turkey goal, but Barella wasn’t finished admiring his pass. Moving further up the pitch in the same passage of play, he found himself in space on the edge of the box to feed Berardi in on goal once more.
As Uğurcan Çakır initially saved Spinazolla’s volley from the winger’s cross, Immobile finished superbly to put Turkey to the sword. It was a move that Barella expertly started, and the piece of play embodied everything good about the Italian performance, a lethal combination of craft and determination.
To round his evening off, Barella was involved in Italy’s third with 10 minutes to go. Following Cakir’s dreadful clearance, Berardi seized the opportunity from 30 yards out. On the hunt for goals once more, Barella received his pass on the edge of the box. As he quickly adjusted his feet to find Ciro Immobile, the Lazio striker’s pass fell perfectly for Insigne to magnificently curl the ball home for the games killer goal.
By the end, there were signs of Barella’s swagger seen in Inter’s Scudetto triumph with some sublime touches that were met with Turkish frustration. The midfielder’s work rate to track back and win the ball makes him a valued team player for all of his guile in possession.
Fully committed to the cause, he celebrated Italy’s opener with Locatelli as he’d scored himself. With only a few minutes left on the clock, he was the highest Italian player in their attacking press to nullify Turkey into submission.
There is still a lot more to come from Barella, but if this was his debut on one of the biggest international stages, he’s secured his footing on the scene.
As a collective, the Italian’s were pumped from the first until the very end of the 90 minutes, typified by Georgio Chiellini’s superb last-minute block in the dying seconds to keep Turkey at bay.
His clenching of the fists in denying Burak Yilmaz from close range was met with equal jubilation by keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, a man 14 years younger than the Juventus veteran. Those moments are usually reserved for when it matters in tournament football, not at 3-0 up in an opening group game.
As the Italian players gathered in a huddle to soak up their achievements at the final whistle, their togetherness was for all to see what this victory meant. If this is how The Azzurri means to go in Euro 2020, then we’re going to be in for a treat.
We’ve waited 12 months for this fixture to arrive, and it didn’t disappoint. Football on the international stage is back, and boy, did we all need it.
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