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Attendance: 24,000
Italy national football team
Euro Champ Qualifying | Group Stage
Mar 23, 2019 at 7.45pm UK
 
Finland national football team

2-0

Barella (7'), Kean (74')
FT(HT: 1-0)

Roberto Mancini excited for Moise Kean's "enormous potential"

Roberto Mancini excited for Moise Kean's
© Reuters
Kean and Nicolo Barella secured a 2-0 victory.

Italy coach Roberto Mancini hailed teenage goalscorer Moise Kean's "enormous potential" after his side's 2-0 win against Finland.

The Azzurri launched their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign with victory thanks to Nicolo Barella and Kean, who scored their first goals for their country in either half at the Friuli Stadium in Udine.

Mancini was rewarded for turning to youth as Cagliari midfielder Barella, 22, and Juventus forward Kean, 19, ensured Italy scored more than one goal in a competitive game for the first time in almost two years.

"Kean has quality, enormous potential and it all depends on him," said Mancini, who also handed late teenage substitute Nicolo Zaniolo, of Roma, his senior debut.

"It's not difficult to see talent in Kean and Nicolo Zaniolo, so it's not a risk to pick them.

"There's plenty of quality among our young players. It's not difficult to understand that."

Mancini told Rai Sport that Italy's Group J rivals Finland, promoted from the third tier of the UEFA Nations League last year, proved useful opponents.

"It wasn't easy, as Finland clammed up straight away with five defenders, so it was difficult to break them down," Mancini said.

"We made a few mistakes early on, but did far better in the second half and created many more scoring opportunities."

Mancini backed Ciro Immobile to end his goal drought as the Lazio striker has now failed to score in his last 10 appearances for Italy.

Immobile did lay on an assist for Kean though and Mancini added: "When a striker seeks the goal, it doesn't arrive, but it will happen.

"It wasn't easy for Immobile, as he always has five or six players surrounding him. If anything, we should have spread the play better to create spaces."

Finland coach Markku Kanerva was impressed by Italy, but does not think Mancini's side will have it all their own way in the group.

"Italy are certainly the strongest team in the group, but Greece and Bosnia can also have a say," Kanerva was quoted on UEFA.com.

"Obviously, I'm disappointed with the result. It's a pity, especially for the first goal, because it came through a deflection."

Norwich striker Teemu Pukki squandered Finland's best chance when he mis-directed Robin Lod's cross early in the second half.

"We came close to equalising and maybe the result would have been completely different if we had scored that goal," Kanerva added. "Still, I think the result reflected what we saw on the pitch."

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Italy's Nicolo Barella in action during a Nations League match with Portugal in November 2018
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Group A

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Germany Germany32107
Q Switzerland Switzerland31205
3 Hungary Hungary31023
4 Scotland flag Scotland30121

Group B

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Q Spain Spain33009
Q Italy Italy31114
3 Croatia Croatia30212
4 Albania national flag Albania30121

Group C

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Q England flag England31205
Q Denmark Denmark30303
Q Slovenia Slovenia30303
4 Serbia Serbia30212

Group D

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Q Austria Austria32016
Q France France31205
Q Netherlands Netherlands31114
4 Poland Poland30121

Group E

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Q Romania Romania31114
Q Belgium Belgium31114
Q Slovakia Slovakia31114
4 Ukraine Ukraine31114

Group F

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Q Portugal Portugal32016
Q Turkey Turkey32016
Q Georgia Georgia31114
4 Czech Republic Czech Republic30121


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