{"id":713528,"date":"2026-06-04T01:56:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T01:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/713528\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T01:56:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T01:56:18","slug":"luxembourg-0-1-italy-pio-esposito-decisive-on-night-of-debuts-for-new-nazionale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/713528\/","title":{"rendered":"Luxembourg 0-1 Italy: Pio Esposito decisive on night of debuts for new Nazionale"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Francesco<\/p>\n

Francesco Pio Esposito celebrates scoring for Italy against Luxembourg (@optapaolo)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Italy gave 15 players their senior debuts in an experimental side, but it was Francesco Pio Esposito who decided the 1-0 friendly victory over Luxembourg.<\/p>\n

The Azzurri had the first of two international friendly tests under interim manager Silvio Baldini<\/a>, promoted from the Under-21 side while seeking a replacement for Gennaro Gattuso after the World Cup play-off debacle. He called a largely untested squad, with only four players already having senior caps<\/a>, but Marco Palestra didn\u2019t start due to a slight adductor issue, so Catanzaro\u2019s Costantino Favasuli stepped in at right-back as one of eight debutants.<\/p>\n

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"TheThe starting XI for Italy against Luxembourg (@Azzurri)<\/p>\n

Luca Lipani nodded over from a corner and Cher Ndour couldn\u2019t keep his finish down, but Francesco Pio Esposito went inches wide with a cheeky back-heel flick on the Lipani roll across.<\/p>\n

Pio Esposito also turned an acrobatic bicycle kick wide, then another of the Inter striker\u2019s back-heel flicks set up Niccol\u00f2 Pisilli, who hit the side-netting from a tricky angle.<\/p>\n

Luca Koleosho should\u2019ve done better when sent clear on goal only to scuff a weak finish straight at the \u2018keeper.<\/p>\n

\"LucaLuca Koleosho plays for Italy in the friendly against Luxembourg (@Azzurri)<\/p>\n

It was end to end on the stroke of half-time, as first Esposito\u2019s strike was charged down, then Daniel Sinani fired just over from the tightest of angles.<\/p>\n

Cher Ndour had an effort deflected over too by Jans, and Italy finally broke through from a Pisilli corner with the glancing Pio Esposito header at the near post.<\/p>\n

\"Niccol\u00f2Niccol\u00f2 Pisilli plays for Italy against Luxembourg (@azzurri)<\/p>\n

Koleosho was wasteful again moments later with a misplaced angled drive, while Pisilli was unlucky on 59 minutes to see his first-time strike thump the upright after a smart Favasuli roll across from the left.<\/p>\n

Moreira\u2019s counter-attack failed to trouble Gianluigi Donnarumma, and a Davide Bartesaghi volley was charged down, but Seydou Fini shinned the half-volley over from 10 yards after a long throw-in bounced in the box.<\/p>\n

Francesco Camarda almost scored within 60 seconds of his senior debut, a glancing header wide from the Bartesaghi cross.<\/p>\n

Pisilli threatened again, his shot charged down by a desperate Korac block, while Donnarumma rushed outside his box to nod a long ball clear.<\/p>\n

Luxembourg 0-1 Italy<\/p>\n

Pio Esposito 49 (I)<\/p>\n

Luxembourg: Moris; Jans, Korac, Carlson, Michael Pinto (Mahmutovic 67); V Thill (S Thill 77), Martins, Olesen (Goncalves 87), Moreira (Duarte 87), Bohnert (Kadamani 67); Sinani (Curci 87)<\/p>\n

Italy:\u00a0Donnarumma; Favasuli (Fortini 67), Chiarodia, Comuzzo (Mane 76), Bartesaghi (Ahanor 89); Ndour, Lipani (Dagasso 76), Pisilli;\u00a0Cherubini (Fini 67), Pio Esposito (Camarda 76), Koleosho (Inacio 89)<\/p>\n

Ref: Kooj (NED)<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\tPost navigation
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Francesco Pio Esposito celebrates scoring for Italy against Luxembourg (@optapaolo) Italy gave 15 players their senior debuts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-713528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}