Italy coach Roberto Mancini warned striker Mateo Retegui “needs time” to learn despite the Argentina-born striker scoring for a second successive Euro 2024 qualifier on Sunday night.
The 23-year-old qualifies to play for the defending champions courtesy of his Italian grandfather but still plays his club football in Argentina, currently on loan at Tigres from Boca Juniors. On Sunday, he looked right at home for Italy as he scored the opening goal a 2-0 Group C win in Malta.
His 15th-minute header followed his debut strike in Thursday’s 2-1 loss at home to England. “He unlocked the match, he was essential today,” said Mancini. “But I repeat: he needs time, he still needs to learn more about European football.”
Retegui, goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and full-back Giovanni De Lorenzo were the only men to keep their places in the starting line-up after the loss to England. Matteo Pessina added Italy’s second goal on Sunday from a cross by Emerson in the 27th minute.
“These are matches where you have everything to lose,” added Mancini. “We did some good things, some not so good. The important thing was to win. We could have scored more, but there you go. These are particular kinds of matches, where it’s difficult to play, you don’t have a lot of space.”

Ronaldo ‘very important’ for Portugal, says Martinez
Cristiano Ronaldo remains a “very important” player for Portugal, coach Roberto Martinez said on Sunday after the veteran striker scored a second successive brace in Euro 2024 qualifying against Luxembourg. The 38-year-old opened the scoring for the Euro 2016 winners by turning in Nuno Mendes’ header and slotted home another in the 31st minute as Portugal won 6-0.
Ronaldo, who also netted twice against Liechtenstein on Thursday, increased his records of most men’s international appearances and goals to 198 and 122 respectively. “Cristiano is a unique player in the world, with the highest number of international caps,” said Martinez, who has restored Ronaldo to the starting line-up after he was dropped during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
“The experience he has for the dressing room is very important. All players have an important role. The younger ones due to their willingness to play and players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Rui Patricio and Bernardo Silva bring experience.
“It’s important to have a complete dressing room.”
Martinez joined Portugal after the World Cup, replacing Fernando Santos who had been in charge since 2014. The Spaniard has enjoyed a fine start, with his team already two points clear at the top of Group J having scored 10 goals without reply. Joao Felix, Bernardo Silva, Otavio and Rafael Leao were all also on the scoresheet in Luxembourg.
Elsewhere in the group, Iceland bounced back from their opening defeat by Bosnia and Herzegovina by thrashing Liechtenstein 7-0.
Slovakia moved into second place behind Portugal with a 2-0 win over the Bosnians. Denmark blew a two-goal lead to crash to a surprise 3-2 defeat in Kazakhstan. The Euro 2020 semi-finalists appeared to be cruising to victory in the Group H match as Atalanta youngster Rasmus Hojlund netted twice in the first half after scoring a hat-trick against Finland on Thursday.
Kazakhstan had started their bid to qualify for a first ever major tournament with a home defeat by Slovenia. But Bakhtiyor Zaynutdinov’s 73rd-minute penalty gave the hosts hope of a famous turnaround in Astana. Midfielder Askhat Tagybergen crashed a long-range drive past a helpless Kasper Schmeichel with four minutes of normal time remaining to equalise.
Substitute Abat Aymbetov provided the golden moment for Kazakhstan – who have already at least secured a Euro 2024 play-off spot through the Nations League – leaping to power a header into the top corner in the 89th minute. He was later sent off for a second yellow card but by then had already grabbed all three points.