“It’s our culture. When there are issues, we pull together even more. These boys are extraordinary,” these were the first words uttered by Alberico Evani after tonight’s win against Poland. “Mancini is satisfied. We spoke to him at half time. He was very happy and told us that we deserved more goals.” On the youngsters: “they’re growing and playing like veterans. Bosnia? We’re taking it game by game. We had to win today, now we need to regain our strength to finish in style.”

As stated by Belotti, “we want to dedicate this game to Mancini and every Italian in this difficult period. The coach was always in contact with everybody and we knew how upset he was not to be there."

It’s a tough time for everyone, even an Italy side decimated by absences. “We got here with a lot of issues,” Belotti explained. “Days passed and players left. But we’re always told that Italy comes through tough times. We showed that we were superior in every regard on the pitch. This group is a family - it’s like a father hugging his own son. When we meet there’s a connection that’s difficult to describe.”

“Everyone played well,” Insigne added, “even Donnarumma, who didn’t have much to do. It was a great team display. We always push to create chances. The gaffer did well to put us all in our preferred positions and we’re all learning this system really well. Continuing like this we can do great things. Now, we need to regain our strength and put is to bed against Bosnia.”