After the Nations League wins over England and Hungary in September, the Azzurri got their third successive win this evening, coming from behind to beat Albania 3-1 in Tirana, in their 400th friendly game. Two goals from Vicenzo Grifo – his second brace for the first team after the one in November 2020 against Estonia – and one from Di Lorenzo sealed victory. The Freiburg forward is in a rich vein of form and could have got a hat-trick after hitting the bar; he also provided the assist for Di Lorenzo’s equaliser in the first half. There was also a positive performance by 18-year-old Scalvini, who made his full debut, while Di Lorenzo, Dimarco and Raspadori all confirmed themselves as certainties going forward. Goalkeeper Meret made some crucial saves, with Nicolò Zaniolo also impressing but just lacking that killer instinct in front of goal that would have rounded off a good night for him. Even though regret remains ahead of the World Cup in Qatar, that starts in four days’ time, there is still lots of optimism to take forward as the Azzurri await a busy 2023, starting off with Euro 2024 qualification and the Nations League Final Four phase. Coming back into the fold after his serious injury was Enrico Chiesa, and there were also senior debuts for Fagioli, Pinamonti and 16-year-old Pafundi. Sadly, Tonali was stretchered off after a nasty fall.

THE MATCH. “There’s no formation better than an other,” said Roberto Mancini on the eve of the game, “but it’s right that we try something new and experiment.” And that is precisely what happened, with the Head Coach deciding to line up with a 3-4-3 setup, after using a 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 in previous games. Meret was in goal; Bonucci, Bastoni and Atalanta’s Scalvini in defence; Veratti and Tonali in centre-midfield, while Di Lorenzo and Dimarco occupied the wide positions. The front three consisted of Raspadori, scorer in the last two games against England and Hungary, Grifo and Zaniolo. It was a great opporuntity for the Roma player to show his worth, and return to a ground where he scored a decisive goal in a Conference League victory for his club, while the Freiburg forward looked to continue his hot streak that he is showing in the Bundesliga. For Edy Reja’s Albania, they lined up in their usual 3-5-2, with a couple of familiar faces well-know to Italy, with Roma’s Kumbulla and Lazio’s Hysaj starting, as well as Torino keeper Berisha, and Empoli’s Ismajli and Bajrami.

And it was the Empoli duo who played a hand in giving the home side the lead after 16 minutes, just after Italy had had two golden opportunities through Raspadori and Zaniolo. A free-kick in from the trequartista, Bajrami, and Ismajli rose higher than Bonucci to head home in just under the bar, with Meret having no chance to reach it. The 22,000-strong Air Albania Stadium crowd went wild, but the lead only lasted four minutes as Di Lorenzo ran onto a lovely cross in, from an inspired Grifo, to poke home only a few yards out to make it 1-1. Five minutes later and it was the Freiburg striker who mounted the Azzurri comeback, tucking away with confidence after being played in by Raspadori. In between the goals, there was also a great chance for Zaniolo, who did well to control a precise ball from Dimarco, but his lob failed to hit the target and sailed over. In the closing stages of the half, it was Zaniolo again, this time very unfortunate not to get on the scoresheet as his firm drive from the edge of the area struck the post, after another Raspadori assist. The only sour point of a positive half was the injury to Tonali, who fell nastily after challenging for an aerial ball, and who was stretched off; he was replaced by Samuele Ricci.

The second half opened up with Albania on the attack from an Azzurri corner, exploiting a wide open defence on the break, but Meret saved well from Kumbulla’s header. The match was alive and within the space of two minutes both sides hit the woodwork through Grifo and Uzuni. It was the home side, again on the counter, who went agonisingly close to finding the equaliser: Bajrami’s attempt took a deflection of Scalvini and hit the bar, and on the rebound Lenjani’s strike was cleared off the line by Bonucci. Albania would rue those chances and Vincenzo Grifo stepped up to the mark to seal the win, receiving a ball across the box from Verratti to sweetly place a right-footed shot into the far corner for his second brace in Azzurri colours, after the one scored in the win over Estonia two years ago in Florence.

Dimarco nearly got a fourth on the volley, before Meret did well again from Roshi’s close-range effort. At the end, there was enough time for three debuts: Fagioli, Pinamonti and 16-year-old Pafundi, making him the 54th debutant in Roberto Mancini’s reign; Chiesa made a welcome return too, after being out for ten months due to injury. The final commitment of the year is in Vienna on Sunday against Austria, before we return back to action in March in search of three points in our opening Euro 2024 qualification fixture.