Scorer of a brace in the 4-1 win against Israel, Giovanni Di Lorenzo gave an interview to ‘Vivo Azzurro’ after the excellent performance in Udine. The captain of Napoli, with Donnarumma on the bench, was also the captain of Italy for the occasion: “It’s certainly exciting to wear the captain’s armband of the national team. It was already a beautiful evening like this, then with the two goals it was even more so. It’s an evening that I will take back for the rest of my life.”
Then on Italy’s moment he added: “We started off great, with a new path, a new cycle and many young boys who have quality and desire to demonstrate their qualities. Even tonight we saw a team that played football and when there was a need to defend the we all did it together, united. And then we have fun with the ball and put our qualities on the field. We still have to grow, but the path is the right one.”
Italy-Israel 4-1, the scoreboard of the match
Italy (3-5-1-1): Vicar; Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Calafiori; Cambiaso, Frattesi (42′ st Buongiorno), Fagioli (1′ st Ricci), Tonali, Dimarco (28′ st Udogie); Raspadori (29′ st Maldini); Retegui (39′ st Lucca). Available: Donnarumma, Di Gregorio, Bellanova, Gabbia, Okoli, Zaniolo, Pisilli. Technical commissioner: Luciano Spalletti.
Israel (3-4-2-1): O. Glazer; Feingold, Nachmias, Baltaxa; Abada (30′ st Baribo), Abu Fani, Kanichowsky (1′ st Jaber), Haziza (19′ st Gropper); D.Peretz (36′ st Safuri), Gloukh; Madmon (19′ st Khalaifi). Available: Keuof, Gerafi, Stoinov, Azoulay, Leidner, Biton, E. Peretz. Technical commissioner: Ben Simon
Referee: de Burgos (Spain)
Scorers: 41′ pen. Retegui (I), 9′ st, 34′ st Di Lorenzo (I), 21′ st Abu Fani (IS), 28′ st Frattesi (I)
Booked: Cambiaso (I)