Uefa Nations League: Italy 2-0 Poland - 10-man Eagles brushed aside by Azzurri

Italy reclaimed top spot in Group A1 with a comfortable win over ten-man Poland.

UEFA Nations League: Italy players celebrate home victory over Poland. Photo: @azzurri

The home side completely dominated the first period and were probably disappointed to have only one goal to show for their efforts.

That came when Andrea Belotti was pulled down by Grzegorz Krychowiak as he tried to get on the end of Federico Bernardeschi's cross, and Jorginho made no mistake from the spot.

Striker Robert Lewandowski (in red) in action for Poland during their UEFA Nations League match against Italy. Photo: @azzurri

Bernardeschi had earlier been denied by Wojciech Szczęsny, and Lorenzo Insigne's effort had been ruled out due to Belotti being offside.

Poland improved after the break but failed to really test Gianluigi Donnarumma, and when half-time replacement Jacek Góralski was shown a second yellow card, there was no way back.

Italy 2-0 Poland - 'victory deserved' ⬇

Dominated the game 💪
Deserved victory
What a group 🇮🇹 https://t.co/Qnu1s4sjDz

— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@azzurri) November 15, 2020

Domenico Berardi, on as a substitute at his club stadium in Reggio Emilia, fired in late on to seal the win.

Italy assistant Head Coach Alberico Evani said, the Azzurri "need to be a little more efficient up front":

"We remained faithful to our attacking principles of football. Roberto [Mancini] has been working on them for two years and when you continue playing like this, in the long run, you are rewarded. We need to be a little more efficient up front, but the overall performance was good."

Italy Head Coach Roberto Mancini - "we had the right mentality" ⬇

✍️ #Mancini: "A great team performance. It was easy but we had the right mentality. We'll be the first seed for the #WorldCup2022 qualifying draw. Congrats to the boys, coach Chicco #Evani and all the staff of a brilliant National team!" 🥰 https://t.co/pDJTzdjKpZ

— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@azzurri) November 15, 2020

Poland Head Coach Jerzy Brzęczek, said the Eagles "didn't press well enough":

"The first half was very bad; we didn't do our job and didn't press well enough. Some of our young players didn't play at the level we'd hoped, but they've played lot of games recently. The second half was slightly better, but this just wasn't our day." Uefa