Was Pellegrini affected by the pressure he is experiencing? This is one of the questions asked at the press conference Luciano Spallettitechnical commissioner of the national team who at the end of Italy-Belgium 2-2 he responded like this: “We lost a couple of bloody balls in the build-up, when you play man against man you have to skip the man and it becomes risky, I shouted to Bastoni to look for Retegui during the expulsion because I had seen the defender break away from Pellegrini Bastoni cannot see how much margin the defender has to anticipate Pellegrini, he could be wrong because they are two very normal errors but two goals came from Pellegrini, I have to review the episode but I think it was a sending off, he felt a little frustrated and he tried everything because he felt anticipated and if you touch with your studs it’s always red. Then you get a goal from a free kick, you get an avoidable goal from a corner. It had to go like this, we paid too dearly for these little mistakes.”
CLICK HERE for the full press conference Luciano Spalletti.
Italy-Belgium 2-2, the scoreboard
Italy (3-5-1-1): Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Calafiori; Cambiaso, Frattesi (45′ st Bellanova), Ricci (25′ st Fagioli), Tonali (35′ st Pisilli), Dimarco (25′ st Udogie); Pilgrims; Retegui (35′ st Raspadori). Available: Di Gregorio, Vicario, Buongiorno, Gabbia, Lucca, Maldini, Okoli. All.: Spalletti
Belgium (4-2-3-1): Casteels; Debast, Faes, Theate (23′ st Vranckx), De Cuyper; Tielemans, Mangala (23′ st Castagne); Doku (42′ st Fofana), De Ketelaere (23′ st Lukebakio), Trossard; Openda (42′ st Ngonge).
Available: De Wolf, Vandevoordt, Bakayoko, Bornauw, De Winter, Engels, Ngonge, Smets. All.: German
Referee: Eskas
Markers: 2′ Cambiaso (I), 24′ Retegui (I), 42′ De Cuyper (B), 16′ st Trossard (B)
Ammonites: Donnarumma, Pisilli (I), Trossard (B)
Expelled: Pellegrini (I)