{"id":2617,"date":"2026-09-29T13:18:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T05:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/?p=2617"},"modified":"2026-09-29T13:18:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T05:18:59","slug":"turkey-1-4-italy-one-climbs-out-of-trouble-as-the-other-sinks-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/29\/turkey-1-4-italy-one-climbs-out-of-trouble-as-the-other-sinks-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey 1-4 Italy: One climbs out of trouble as the other sinks in"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Italy rediscovered their form and winning touch on Monday with a commanding 4-1 victory over Turkey, showing flair and cutting edge to banish recent ghosts and look ahead to the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Italy took to the pitch with a completely transformed attitude compared to last Friday, when Belgium overpowered them in the first half. Mancini shuffled his pack, deploying the Esposito brothers \u2013 Francesco ‘Pio’ and Sebastiano \u2013 in an untested forward trident alongside Giacomo Raspadori.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mancini continues his search for the right formula, and he seemingly cracked it on Monday. The ‘Azzurri’ played with genuine freedom and fluency, combining sharp passing with clinical finishing that had eluded them in competitive matches for far too long. In front of them, a Turkey side lacked Arda Guler’s spark and failed to feed off the energy of their crocodile-shaped stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opener arrived after just nine minutes when Alessandro Bastoni carved out space from a corner to head over Turkish goalkeeper Altay Bayindir. It proved a vital moment for the defender, who returned to the starting line-up following his suspension against Bosnia and Herzegovina, when Italy suffered World Cup play-off elimination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The visitors dictated the tempo, running the midfield through Sandro Tonali and Davide Frattesi while causing endless problems through ‘Pio’ Esposito up front. Leading the line was just reward for the forward, who stepped up and showed leadership when crisis engulfed the camp after June’s World Cup exit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Italians doubled their lead in the 22nd minute when Davide Frattesi pounced on a loose ball inside the box and drilled home ruthlessly for 2-0. The Lazio midfielder has enjoyed a dream start to the campaign, netting three decisive goals in five games for the club to help them sit joint-top of the league alongside Inter and Roma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just five minutes later came the third. Francesco Pio Esposito picked out Michael Kayode inside the box, and the full-back tucked a neat finish inside the right-hand post to cap his senior international debut with a goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey rallied after the restart, attempting to reopen the contest and pulling one back in the 47th minute. Oguz Aydin slipped the ball to Baris Alper Yilmaz, who controlled inside the area and beat Italy’s experienced captain Gianluigi Donnarumma to make it 3-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet Italy produced an immediate response. In the 51st minute, ‘Pio’ Esposito reacted quickest to a rebound inside the area to head in Italy’s fourth. Turkey tried to mount another charge at 4-1, but the referee chalked off another Yilmaz effort for offside in the 56th minute, allowing the ‘Azzurri’ to manage the closing stages comfortably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Italy secured their first three points in the Nations League, snapping a six-month wait for a competitive win since beating Northern Ireland in March’s World Cup play-off semi-finals. Vincenzo Montella’s Turkey side have now slumped to back-to-back defeats \u2013 a slide they will look to arrest against Belgium on Friday or in their trip to Italy on Monday 5 October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Italy rediscovered their form and winning touch on Mond […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2617"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2619,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2617\/revisions\/2619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}