Italy pin hopes on insatiable Belotti
Bale seeks World Cup lift-off against Ireland
MILAN: He’s known as the ‘Rooster’ with the insatiable appetite for goals, and Albania coach Gianni Di Biasi, for one, will be hoping Italy sensation Andrea Belotti goes hungry today.
“I would have preferred it if there was a foreign striker on top of the Serie A scoring charts right now,” De Biasi told La Stampa earlier this week.
“That’s a full year Belotti’s been on top of his game, but the tragedy for us is that it’s not just him we have to worry about up front.”
Nine months on from their quarter-final exit on penalties to Germany at Euro 2016, Italy look to take another step towards the 2018 World Cup in Russia when they host a heavily-supported Albania side in Palermo today.
Currently joint top of Group G with Spain, but with only group winners automatically going through, it is an appointment the Azzurri can’t afford to miss as they look tentatively, following a 1-1 draw with Spain in Turin last year, towards a possible group decider away to La Roja on Sept 2.
“There’s no fear, but the result against Albania is extremely important ahead of playing Spain in September,” Italy coach Gian Piero Ventura said at the team’s Coverciano training base.
Yet if Belotti can reproduce the form that has shot him to the Serie A summit on 22 goals, Ventura can rest assured.
In only his second full season with Torino — and a fledgling international career that has brought three goals in five games — his 22-goal league tally, featuring two hat-tricks, has put Belotti on the radar of Barcelona, Chelsea and Real Madrid.
Belotti, 23, is the only home-grown striker in Europe to sit top of the league scoring charts.
Not bad for a player who, having began his career in midfield, was once practically labelled mediocre by former AC Milan supremo Arrigo Sacchi.
“He’s a great example for younger players because God didn’t bless him with huge talent,” Sacchi said recently. “He has greater attributes like generosity, enthusiasm and passion.”
Belotti — who celebrates his goals by holding an open hand to his forehead to imitate ‘Il Gallo’ (The Rooster) — should lead the Italian charge with Ciro Immobile.
The Lazio star, who won the league’s top scorer award with Torino in 2014 with 22 goals, is the next Italian on the Serie A scoring list below Belotti, on 17.
Meanwhile Gareth Bale’s Wales hope to recapture the spirit of Euro 2016 when they attempt to revive their flagging qualifying campaign against Ireland in Dublin today.
Having stunned Europe by reaching the semi-finals of last year’s European Championship in France, third-placed Wales trail leaders Ireland by four points and two behind Serbia after four games in Group D.
With only the top team in each group guaranteed to qualify for next year’s tournament in Russia, it means Wales desperately need all three points at the Aviva Stadium tonight.