Romagnoli, De Sciglio & Bonaventura all assist in Italy’s 4-0 win, Kucka scores for Slovakia against Lithuania

Italy and Slovakia both got big wins while Carlos Bacca was not involved in Colombia’s 0-0 draw and Primavera’s Cutrone starred for Italy Under 19.

12 Milan first team players (plus three from the Primavera) were called up by their national teams in this break and the first round of matches is behind us.

Last night at the Rheinpark Stadion in Liechtenstein, Italy defeated the home side 4-0. Three Milan players were in the starting XI of Giampiero Ventura and they all finished the game with an assist.

In the 11′ minute, an Italy corner found Alessio Romagnoli who headed it to Andrea Belotti and the Torino striker (and proclaimed Milan fan) begged his first of the night. One minute later, Giacomo Bonaventura‘s excellent ball met Belotti’s head and he headed it to Ciro Immobile who made it 2-0.

In the 32’ minute, Jack and Mattia De Sciglio worked together on the left flank and the fullback’s cross found Inter’s Antonio Candreva’s finishing leg. Before half time Bonaventura finally made a direct assist, sending the ball to Belotti who scored his second and Italy’s 4th. Giacomo was subbed out in the 67′ minute by Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne while De Sciglio and Romagnoli played the entire match.

Luca Antonelli and Gianluigi Donnarumma sat on the bench the entire match while Gianluca Lapadula was one of the few players that were cut from the squad and didn’t make the bench but could get his chance in the next game, when Italy host Germany for a friendly at San Siro.

On Friday evening, Juraj Kucka and Slovakia hosted Lithuania at Štadión Antona Malatinského. Adam Nemec scored first in the 12′ minute and three minutes later it was the turn of the Rossoneri midfielder, who scored with an incredible shot from outside the box (his 6th goal for his country). Martin Škrtel scored in the 36′ minute and Napoli’s Marek Hamsik made it 4-0 in the 86′ minute.

Keisuke Honda Japan’s 4-0 friendly win over Oman at Kashima Stadium on Friday but was subbed out after 61 minutes. “One thing I confirmed is that Honda isn’t up to speed with the rhythm of the game,” Japan coach Vahid Halilhodzic said after the match, hinting the player, who barely plays for Montella, could be dropped in their next match. “He has a lot of experience and he is a big presence in the team, but I need to look at who will give us the best performance against Saudi Arabia.”

In South America, Carlos Bacca‘s bad spell continued as he wasn’t given any minutes in Colombia’s 0-0 draw with Chile on Thursday. Gustavo Gomez, however, played the full 90 minutes in Paraguay’s heavy 4-1 defeat. Cristian Riveros (9′) scored first for Paraguay but Christian Ramos (48′), Edison Flores (71′), Christian Cueva (78′) and Édgar Benítez (84′, own goal) overturned the result.

Milan have 5 players in the Italy U19 and they played two matches: The first match was November 10th the Azzurrini beat Hungary 1-0 thanks to a goal from Primavera’s Patrick Cutrone (70′). Andrés Llamas, Matteo Gabbia and starting regista Manuel Locatelli played the entire game while the 16-year-old third-choice first team keeper Alessandro Plizzari was on the bench.

The second match was on November 12th against Armenia. Cutrone was once again instrumental as he scored Italy’s first in the dramatic 2-1 win (winning goal scored by Riccardo Marchizza in the 93′ minute). Locatelli was brought on in the 81′ minute while Llamas and Gabbia played 90 minutes again and Plizzari saw his friends celebrate from the sidelines. They have another match in 2 days.

All the players above have another match to play before the international break is over. Afterwards they will return to Milanello and work hard ahead of the Derby della Madonnina next Sunday.