11 October 2018
Wednesday night saw the first match of this October international break involving Bianconeri players, as Italy took on Ukraine in a friendly at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa.
Azzurri captain, Giorgio Chiellini, partnered Leonardo Bonucci in central defence for the entirety of the game, while Federico Bernardeschi started in a familiar right-wing role in a three-man attack.
Goalless at half-time, Bernardeschi it was to open the scoring with a fine left-footed shot from outside the box in the 55thminute – his second ever goal for his country.
Juve’s number 33 was substituted just one minute after scoring as coach Roberto Mancini gave game time to several squad players ahead of Sunday’s UEFA Nations League contest against Poland.
Ukraine levelled the scores in the 62ndminute with Ruslan Malinovsky and that’s how the game finished, as Bonucci headed narrowly over the crossbar in the final stages.
Today sees many more Bianconeri in action with Wojciech Szczesny and Joao Cancelo facing off in Poland vs Portugal in the UEFA Nations League, while there are several international friendlies in store: Miralem Pjanic (Bosnia vs Turkey), Blaise Matuidi (France vs Iceland), Moise Kean (Italy U21 vs Belgium U21), Paulo Dybala (Argentina vs Iraq) and Juan Cuadrado (Colombia vs USA).
