Arsenal’s Riccardo Calafiori after win over Israel: “We have to improve on set pieces” | OneFootball

Italy and Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori has spoken out after the Azzurri’s 4-1 win over Israel in the UEFA Nations League.

Luciano Spalletti’s side had a rather comfortable evening and it should have ideally been a more dominant scoreline, as Italy missed a handful of chances in the first half before Matteo Retegui scored from the spot.

Giovanni di Lorenzo grabbed a brace and David Frattesi scored a trademark goal from inside the box too. Calafiori had started the game and after the win, he spoke to RAI about it.

He said, as relayed by TMW, reflecting on the goal Italy conceded from a corner: “We have to improve on set pieces, it’s obvious because we only concede goals like that. I don’t know if we’re inattentive or disorganized, it’s the only flaw we’ve had in these last few games and we need to work on it.”

He also spoke of playing further forward: “Nowadays in today’s football even defenders have to contribute to the attack, not giving points of reference, that’s what I try to do without forgetting to be an attentive defender. I enjoy trying to give an extra solution to the team, I have to improve in this phase too. My goal is to be able to do both at a high level.”

The Gunners star reflected on how his time at Arsenal has been so far, saying that he is trying to put his lessons to use for Italy.

“The Premier League is a different league, even in terms of intensity. Every game is heated, even against the smaller teams. If you don’t go up by two goals you risk suffering a comeback. Intensity is the watchword, I try to bring it here to the national team to help the team.”

Other Premier League stars like Destiny Udogie, Guglielmo Vicario and Sandro Tonali had also featured in the game.

Kaustubh Pandey I GIFN