Luciano Spalletti after Italy’s win over Ukraine: “We should have scored third and fourth goals” | OneFootball

Italy picked up the first win of Luciano Spalletti’s era as manager, as they beat Ukraine 2-1 in the UEFA Euro qualifiers.

Spalletti’s first game as manager had seen the Azzurri take the lead through Ciro Immobile but North Macedonia had equalised late to make it 1-1 to deny Italy a win. But today’s game was a vital one for Spalletti and his side.

And they left no stone unturned, as a Davide Frattesi brace helped them pick up a 2-1 win. Andriy Yarmolenko had pulled one back for Ukraine before halftime but it only proved to be a consolation, as the Azzurri picked up all three points and Spalletti tasted victory for the first time in his Italy managerial stint.

After the win, the manager stated they should have scored two more goals. He told Rai (via TMW):

“Tonight we have to be happy because it’s not possible to always stay down there and not receive even a cross. We took two chances in the first half and two misses in the second half otherwise we get picky and it doesn’t go well anymore because the team played a good match.”

Spalletti was asked about whether the win relieves some pressure from his shoulders, he said: “Definitely, yes because there were about twenty days of total pressure in my head because there were so many things to realize despite having had splendid collaborators from the Federation who gave me a hand in everything.”

Italy’s next game will be against Malta and they will take on England later in October during next month’s international break.

Kaustubh Pandey | GIFN