First-half Italy blitz stuffs Turkiye
Roberto Mancini claimed his first victory since returning to take charge of Italy as three-first half goals helped down Turkiye 4-1 in the Nations League.
Alessandro Bastoni, Davide Frattesi and Michael Kayode had Italy cruising by the 27th minute, though Baris Alper Yilmaz threatened a comeback early in the second half.
However, Francesco Pio Esposito's 50th-minute header proved to be decisive for Italy, which moved onto three points in Group A1 after its first two matches.
Bastoni handed Italy the ideal start in the ninth minute. A flat corner from the left was not dealt with by Zeki Celik, with the Inter defender winning his battle against Salih Ozcan and turning the ball into the roof of the net on the slide.
It got even better for the Azzurri soon after. A free-flowing move on the edge of the Turkiye area ended with Kayode's shot being saved by Altay Bayindir, but Frattesi was the quickest on the scene to tuck home the rebound in the 22nd minute.
Five minutes later, Italy had its third. Another great piece of play between Giacomo Raspadori and Francesco Pio Esposito saw the latter shift the ball on to Kayode, who made no mistake from inside the box to mark his international debut with a goal.
Raspadori and Sebastiano Esposito then fired off target to cap a dominant opening 45 minutes for Mancini's side as the Turkiye players exited the pitch to a chorus of jeers.
However, Turkiye gave its fans something to cheer within 76 seconds of the restart when Yilmaz turned Oguz Aydin's teasing delivery past Gianluigi Donnarumma, who was out of position after coming out to try and claim a long ball over the top.
But no sooner had they got themselves back in the game, Bayindir gifted Italy their fourth goal. His loose pass was picked off and resulted in Sandro Tonali striking an effort against the right post, with Francesco Pio Esposito on hand to nod in the rebound.
The blistering start to the second half continued when Yilmaz's shot hit the woodwork on its way in, but the goal was ruled out for an offside against Arda Guler, with Aydin then failing to trouble Donnarumma from a tight angle.
Kerem Akturkoglu then blazed over a glorious chance before Eren Elmali failed to get a touch on Ismail Yuksek's cross, with Italy able to hold on to claim a deserved triumph.
