Coach Roberto Mancini hailed the young side that thrashed Armenia 9-1 in Palermo on Monday to extend Italy's record winning streak to 11 games and ensure they finished their Euro 2020 qualifying group with a perfect record.
"It was a great evening," said Mancini, who took over the four-time world champions after they failed to qualify for the 2019 World Cup. "We dealt with it well, scoring lots of goals and you can't do that by chance in an international. It means that we gave all that we could.
"They're all young guys and they're improving match by match and internationals give you strength. "Now, we'll enjoy the moment because we never won all the games before and that's something extraordinary.
"We now have six months ahead of this European Championship. "The hard thing will be leaving someone out who deserves to be in the (squad of) 23". It was only the third time Italy have scored nine goals. The others occasions were a 9-0 win over the USA in 1948 and a 9-4 victory over France in 1920. Ciro Immobile and Nicolò Zaniolo both grabbed doubles in Palermo, while Riccardo Orsolini, Federico Chiesa, Nicolò Barella, Alessio Romagnoli and Jorginho were on target too.
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