Roberto Mancini appears to have transformed Italy almost immediately.
Italy stormed to a dominant 4-1 win at Turkey in the Nations League on Monday with the Azzurri’s best performance for a long time, in Mancini’s second match in charge.
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It was a far cry from Friday’s 2-0 loss at home to Belgium when Italy looked to still be struggling, six months on from failing to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup.
Italy will no doubt face a much tougher test in its next match, however, when it plays France away on Friday.
France also has a new coach in Zinedine Zidane, and he saw his team — without the injured Kylian Mbappé — snatch a 1-0 win at Belgium.
“These boys deserved the win, especially what so many have been saying over the past three days,” Mancini said. “They didn’t deserve that kind of talk. We are on a long journey. ... Besides the victory itself, the boys did some really good things.”
Brentford defender Michael Kayode scored one goal and set up another in an impressive Italy debut for the 22-year-old.
Italy took the lead with less than nine minutes on the clock when Zeki Çelik scuffed an attempted clearance on a corner and the ball fell to Alessandro Bastoni, who swept it into the roof of the net.
It was a sort of redemption for Bastoni, who was sent off in the first half of Italy’s World Cup qualifying playoff against Bosnia and Herzegovina — which the Azzurri went on to lose on penalties.
Davide Frattesi doubled Italy’s lead in the 22nd minute, tapping in the rebound after Kayode’s shot had been parried by Turkey goalkeeper Altay Bayindir, following a well-worked team move by Italy.
Kayode got on the scoresheet five minutes later, following a similar move, with Pio Esposito sending him clear to fire into the bottom right corner.
It was the first time in five years that Italy scored three goals in the opening half-hour of a competitive match.
Baris Alper Yilmaz caught Italy napping to pull one back for Turkey right at the start of the second half but Esposito restored the visitors’ three-goal advantage three minutes later, nodding in a rebound after Sandro Tonali’s curled effort had come off the post.
Esposito had been joined in the starting lineup by his older brother Sebastiano, who was making his debut, marking the first time since 1915 that two brothers had started a match for Italy.
France dominated and hit the woodwork twice but needed a stunning, late goal from substitute Michael Olise to finally break the deadlock.
France was without Mbappé, who has already returned to Real Madrid, after limping off with an injury to his left knee moments after scoring a record-extending 67th goal for his country in Friday’s 1-0 victory against Turkey.
It took something special to break the Belgians down and that happened two minutes from time, when Olise — who had only come on in the 75th minute — received the ball inside his own half and sprinted down the right before cutting in and driving into the bottom left corner.
Zidane celebrated by running down the touchline screaming, before fiercely kicking a ball that was in his path.
“I went along with the play — I wanted to be part of it," Zidane said with a smile. “I saw him go on a dribbling run and thought to myself: ‘He’s going to score!’ I was fully behind him, anyway.”
Zidane had made nine changes to his starting lineup, including handing debuts to Jérémy Jacquet, Andy Diouf and Lucas Da Cunha.
Belgium goalkeeper Senne Lammens made a number of important saves, while Désiré Doué hit the crossbar in the 12th minute and Da Cunha saw a fierce effort from 25 yards come off the post.
In League B, Sweden made it two wins out of two with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Poland, while Bosnia-Herzegovina won 4-2 at Romania.
Both games in Group B2 ended in goalless draws. Northern Ireland drew 0-0 against Hungary, while Ukraine’s match at Georgia ended in the same scoreline.
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