Pio Esposito is experiencing a fantastic moment in his career. The Inter striker was the protagonist in Italy’s victory over France in the Nations League, where he scored two goals, once again confirming the excellent form he is showing in the national team shirt.
With his brace against the French, the 21-year-old has reached nine goals in just 14 matches for Italy. A statistic that places him in a special position in the history of the Italian national team.
At the age of 21 years and 137 days, Esposito is the second-youngest player to score at least eight goals in his first 14 appearances for Italy. Ahead of him stands only the legend Giuseppe Meazza, who had reached this figure in 1931.
After the match, the striker did not hide his emotion about his performance, stressing the importance of the blue shirt and his satisfaction with the contribution he is giving to this squad.
“I am very happy, because this is a very important shirt, the one we all dream of wearing since we were children. I am pleased with what I am doing, but also with what we are doing as a team”, Esposito said.
A special moment for him was also the penalty he scored, which brought strong emotions. The striker explained that the goal also had a personal meaning, since earlier his brother, Sebastiano, had missed a penalty.
“As for the tears, that penalty brought a feeling of joy for closing out the match and for making up for the penalty my brother missed earlier. Seba knows how to dispatch penalties, but anyone can miss. I took on the second one, and that’s how it went.
I couldn’t help but think about the match against Bosnia, but I couldn’t hide forever. Penalties can be missed, and you have to have the courage to step up and take them”, Esposito stated.