30 years on from his brace in a 6-1 win, that still wasn't enough to earn him a place in the World Cup '94 squad, Roberto Mancini has beaten Malta once again, this time as Head Coach, and with a slightly shorter margin compared to that match in Palermo in March 1993. There were no surprises, although despite Malta's miserly FIFA World Ranking (167th) they are no walkover as they once were, and are developing and improving thanks to the work of Italians, Pietro Ghedin and Devis Mangia, as well as Head Coach Michele Marcolini, who only three days ago held their own against North Macedonia.

After the defeat to England, Mancini knew that it wasn't going to be easy to beat a side who had nothing to lose: “These are games where you have nothing to gain. We did some things right, and other things less so. It was important to win, but we could have done better." After finding two goals inside the opening half hour, Italy gave the impression they were happy with the result: “When you go ahead," confirmed the head Coach, "you should be able to play with more assurance and confidence; we should have done that better.” But Mateo Retegui didn't disappont who, despite not yet being fully integrated into the system, confirmed to have the qualities of a true number nine: “He's a goalscorer, and for a centre-forward it's an important characteristic to have. He broke the deadlock, which was crucial, but he still needs time and to get to know European football.”

Also getting in on the act again was Matteo Pessina. It was his fifth goal in 16 caps for the Azzurri, becoming the first Monza player to have scored for the National side: “It's true," he declared smiling, "I didn't think about. Besides the goal, I'm just pleased we got the win, these games are never easy and we saw that today. It was important we won and got those first points on the board." And it doesn't matter that we didn't see an irresistable Italy in Malta: “We definitely could have played better, but we've had very little time together to work. We also played Thursday and this is the first camp we've had since November." 

On his fourth appearance for the senior side, and the first alongside Alessio Romagnoli, Giorgio Scalvini cancelled out the rare attacks from the Maltese strikers with comfortable ease. The only opportunity for the hosts was when Satariano suprised him by getting in behind, before finding Donnarumma in his tracks: “Winning and keeping a clean sheet is always great, especially for a defender. There are many things we can improve on, but we've just got going in this campaign and were able to bring home the three points, which was the most important thing."