Mancini on Italy’s loss to Spain: “The first half could have ended 1-1.”
Italy manager Roberto Mancini has talked about the team’s loss to Spain in the semi-final of the UEFA Nations League at San Siro.
Spain went 1-0 up through Ferran Torres but soon after, Leonardo Bonucci was shown his second yellow card for an elbow on Sergio Busquets. Lorenzo Insigne did get a golden opportunity to make it 1-1, but Torres got his second towards the end of the half.
Substitute Lorenzo Pellegrini pulled one back late in the game, thanks to some excellent work from Federico Chiesa but the goal proved to be a consolation.
Mancini spoke to Rai Sport after the loss and said: “This is how the matches are. Sometimes certain episodes affect them. The first half could have ended 1-1 easily. They play very well technically, but that’s a disappointment. We should have stayed with eleven, we made a mistake that at these levels we shouldn’t have made.”
He also talked about Bonucci’s sending off and stated: “I haven’t seen it but that doesn’t change anything. Leo had to be careful before when he was booked for protests. It was a good performance by the boys for what they did.”
The defeat brought an end to Italy’s 37-game unbeaten run in international football and the streak had gone past Spain’s record and Brazil’s record.