Italy crushed Turkey 4-1 in the Bursa rain to drag themselves into contention in Nations League Group A1, as leaders France struck late to win 1-0 in Belgium on Monday. In Brussels, both teams had wasted chances before Michael Olise scampered through the home defence after 88 minutes and drilled a shot inside the post. It gave Zinedine Zidane a second victory to start his long-awaited debut as France coach.
Read moreNations League: With France's Mbappé away, Dembélé steps into new role Roberto Mancini's return to run Italy had ended in Roman jeers on Friday as Italy lost their opener at home to Belgium. His team dazzled in the downpour in the first half in Turkey. "The players all put in an excellent performance today.
It was a tough match and we approached it in the right way, staying high up the pitch and playing aggressively throughout the game," Mancini told Italian television at the final whistle. The hosts quickly slid three goals behind with errors in their muddy goalmouth. Twice Altay Bayindir struggled to reach low cross-shots from the right.
After nine minutes, the Celta Vigo goalkeeper scooped a drive from Pio Esposito round the post. From the corner, Bursa-born fullback Zeki Celik, who plays for Juventus in Italy, swung wildly at a low near-post cross deflecting the ball to Alessandro Bastoni. The Inter Milan centre back lunged to fire into the roof of the net.
After 23 minutes, Bayindir flapped at an identical cross-shot from Michael Kayode into the path of Lazio's Davide Frattesi, who tucked the ball home. Intricate Italian passing around the penalty area repeatedly found a player free on the right of box. When Brentford's Kayode again found himself in that space, his shot for the near post eluded the plunging Bayindir.
Turkey gave the restless crowd hope in the 47th minute when Gianluigi Donnarumma was drawn to Oguz Aydin beyond the far post. He found Baris Yilmaz who gleefully drilled into an empty net. The comeback lasted five minutes.
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