A debut as a starter in the Champions League and Serie A TIM, followed by a call-up by Roberto Mancini to join the Italian senior national team. European growth for the young Nicolò Zaniolo, who is now also amongst the Under 21 stars of Luigi Di Biagio. In the friendly match against England yesterday, he was one of the best players on the pitch - the only thing missing for his performance was a goal, as he told exclusively to the microphones of gianlucadimarzio.com.
"It's the thing we missed to beat England. If we manage to score in the situations where we should, we can play anyone without any problems. England was good, but did not deserve more than us". These are the youngster's words from the hotel a day after the 2-1 loss. This was the first of two friendlies available to Di Biagio to better prepare for the 2019 European Championship, which will be held in Italy. One of Zaniolo's objectives is to be there, to play in such an important tournament. This may, or may not be, in the company of Roma teammate Luca Pellegrini: "He's a great friend of mine, I would be glad if he were with us next summer, but I do not make the choices".
Looking back towards the Serie A TIM, Zaniolo and Roma will be taking on Udinese next - a club with many players on the Under 21 side: Pezzella, Scuffet and the captain Mandragora are all in retreat with him until Monday, but will be opponents in the challenge next Saturday at the Dacia Arena in Udine: "First we face Germany, then we will meet as opponents, but for now let us talk about it, we have to keep the concentration ahead of Monday's friendly". This is also because Germany is one of Italy's main opponents in the run for the title of the European Under-21 Championships, but according to Zaniolo, there are also several other clubs to look out for: "England, Germany, Spain, France and Holland are the strongest, we are not far behind and we showed it in yesterday's match and we will have to prove it on Monday".
