They’re winning, they’re convincing and they’re continuing to set records. This is Roberto Mancini’s Italy side, who, after qualifying for the Euros and reaching the Final Four of the UEFA Nations League, have now kicked off qualifying for Qatar 2022 with two consecutive wins. The Azzurri followed up the victory over Northern Ireland on matchday 1 by beating Bulgaria yesterday evening – Italy’s first-ever win on Bulgarian soil after four draws and two defeats in Sofia. The game, which was broadcast in Italy on Rai 1, was watched by 6,394,000 people and shared by 23.7% of viewers. This morning, the Azzurri got back to training ahead of Wednesday’s game against Lithuania in Vilnius. The starters from yesterday were in the swimming pool and the gym, while the rest of the squad was on the pitch at CSKA Sofia’s training ground.

Italy extend their unbeaten run to 24 games (19 wins and five draws), just one behind Marcello Lippi’s Italy side, who went 25 matches without defeat between 2004 and 2006. The absolute record, meanwhile, belongs to Vittorio Pozzo’s Italy team, who didn’t lose in 30 games between 1935 and 1939. With 67 points taken in various competitions, Mancini is top of the table after 29 games in charge of Italy (Vicini, Sacchi and Pozzo are close behind on 63 points). With 20 wins from 29 games as the Azzurri’s head coach, Mancini has the highest win rate (69%) of any Italy manager, ahead of Pozzo (66% from 95 games) and Sacchi (64% from 53 games). Italy have also gone 20 competitive matches – i.e. excluding friendlies – without tasting a single defeat, the previous record was 17 (1997-1999, under Cesare Maldini and then Dino Zoff).

Mancini’s Italy side score with ease: 66 goals scored by 28 different players – only under Pozzo (53) and Prandelli (29) have the Azzurri had more goalscorers. Andrea Belotti is the most prolific player under Mancini with seven goals. Il Gallo scored his 11th Italy goal, bringing him level with Immobile at the top of the goalscoring charts for current Azzurri. However, there’s a twist. Belotti has scored ten of these eleven goals away from home; only Riva, Piola (both 13) and Meazza (12) have scored more away goals. Italy have let in just 14 goals under Mancini but haven’t conceded in 515 minutes of football – five games. They also haven’t conceded in six consecutive away games: another record toppled, which was previously set between 1972 and 1974 by Valcareggi’s Italy team (five away games without conceding).

Squad List

Goalkeepers: Alessio Cragno (Cagliari), Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan), Alex Meret (Napoli), Salvatore Sirigu (Torino);
Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Cristiano Biraghi (Fiorentina), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Emerson Palmieri (Chelsea), Gian Marco Ferrari (Sassuolo), Alessandro Florenzi (Paris Saint-Germain), Manuel Lazzari (Lazio), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Leonardo Spinazzola (Roma), Rafael Toloi (Atalanta);
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Gaetano Castrovilli (Fiorentina), Manuel Locatelli (Sassuolo), Rolando Mandragora (Torino), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Matteo Pessina (Atalanta), Matteo Ricci (Spezia), Stefano Sensi (Inter), Roberto Soriano (Bologna), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain);
Forwards: Andrea Belotti (Torino), Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma), Vincenzo Grifo (SC Freiburg), Ciro Immobile (Lazio), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli).

Schedule

(all times are CET unless otherwise specified)

Monday 29 March

11:30 – Training (Closed to the press)

Tuesday 30 March

10:45 – Departure from Sofia for Vilnius

16:30 – Lithuania press conference* (LFF Stadium/Vilnius)

17:00 – Lithuania training (first 15 minutes open to the press) (LFF Stadium/Vilnius)

17:30 – ITALY press conference (LFF Stadium/Vilnius)

18:00 – ITALY training (first 15 minutes open to the press) (LFF Stadium/Vilnius)

Wednesday 31 March

21:45 – Lithuania vs ITALY (LFF Stadium/Vilnius). Followed by a press conference and return home.

*Access to the press conference room will be limited to a small number of the media. The pictures will be visible on the stadium monitors