Roberto Mancini hails Moise Kean's "huge potential" after Italy's 2-0 win over Finland

Italian coach Roberto Mancini backed forward Ciro Immobile and congratulated debutant Moise Kean after Azzurri's 2-0 win against Finland on Saturday night.

The Italians occupy first place in their qualifying group for Euro 2020 with Greece after both teams have won two goals in the first match of the qualifying campaign. Nicolo Barella and Moise Kean both scored a goal for Italy, who had to fight with a Finnish defense held throughout the match.

Mancini spoke with Rai Sport via Football Italia after the match, saying: "It was not easy, Finland immediately trained with five defenders. It was therefore difficult to demolish them. We made some mistakes in the beginning, but we did a lot better in the second half and created many more scoring opportunities.

"We have a lot of work to do, but it is natural for us to make some mistakes after five months. We must continue to work, aware that every game is difficult. "

The manager praised Kean after his full debut in the team, in which young Juventus scored his first goal for the national team.

"Kean has quality, huge potential and everything depends on him. It is not difficult to see talent in Kean and Nicolò Zaniolo, so it is not a risk to choose them. "

Still did not score in the game, which earned him ten consecutive games of scoreless drought in international competition, but Mancini defended the striker by stating: "When an attacker looks for the goal, it does not happen, so it will happen. It was not easy for Immobile, as he was still surrounded by five or six players. We should rather spread out the game to create spaces. "

Mancini hopes that Immobile will qualify for the next game for Italy with its 17 goals in all competitions for Lazio this season.

Gli Azzurri will continue its qualifying campaign by hosting Liechtenstein on Tuesday in Parma and seek to consolidate its first victory and to remain at the top of the group J.