
Biraghi secures first UEFA Nations League win for Italy
Italy finally recorded their first win in the UEFA Nations League as Fiorentina’s Cristiano Biraghi’s injury-time strike saw them beat Poland 1-0.
The Azzurri cut out chance after chance in the game but despite being a dominant force for nearly the full 90 minutes they failed to finish their chances and it looked set to be yet another disappointing result in the long list of failures in Roberto Mancini’s reign in charge.
But Biraghi, who was earning only his third cap at international level, saved his bosses’ blushes in the second minute of injury time as he tapped home Kevin Lasagna’s near post flick on to send the Italian supporters into raptures.
The result was made even sweeter by the fact that it secured Italy’s place in League A, the top tier of the new competition and sealed Poland’s relegation fate.
Following the game, Mancini said:
We dominated the match, we should have scored earlier and it would have been very unfair if the game had finished 0-0.
Italy will now face first placed Portugal on 17th November and can leapfrog them into the Nations League Finals with a victory as long as Ronaldo’s side also drop points to relegated Poland three days later.