England was left rock-bottom in their group as they produced one of the goalless football results of the weekend in the Nations League. England came the closest to scoring as Mason Mount hit the crossbar before Raheem Sterling spurned a chance from close range. Italy deserved a point from the game after Aaron Ramsdale pulled off a sensational save from Sandro Tonali before making a number of crucial saves.
Player ratings
England: Ramsdale (8), James (8), Tomori (7), Maguire (7), Trippier (6), Rice (7), Ward-Prowse (5), Mount (6), Grealish (6), Sterling (5), Abraham (6).
Subs: Kane (6), Phillips (7), Bowen (6), Saka (n/a), Guehi (n/a).
Italy: Donnarumma (6), Di Lorenzo (8), Gatti (7), Acerbi (8), Di Marco (8), Frattesi (6), Locatelli (6), Tonali (7), Pessina (7), Scamacca (5), Pellegrini (6).
Subs: Esposito (6), Gnonto (6), Raspadori (6), Florenzi (n/a), Christante (n/a).
Man of the match: Aaron Ramsdale.
Managers Reaction
Italy boss Roberto Mancini: “The team played well and deserved to win. We only had one big problem, that is that you cannot create 10 clear chances and fail to score. If Frattesi scores early on it is a different game. We have still scored over 100 goals since I took over. It is only in the last six months that we have slowed down. England is one of the best teams in Europe at this moment because they have many, many good players. I think they are one of the candidates to win the World Cup in Qatar.”
England midfielder Kalvin Phillips: “Over the course of the game, we were the better team,” said Phillips, the England midfielder who came on in the second half. “Italy created a few chances in the first half, but over the game we were better, we just couldn’t create the final chance to get the goal. “It is not much of a worry, to be fair. The strikers we have got are prolific strikers. As long as we keep working together, goals are going to come.”
For more football results, click here
