Prandelli: 'The Italy revolution has begun, Gattuso was unlucky with Bastoni'

Former Italy national team head coach Cesare Prandelli feels that a new ‘revolution’ is underway under Roberto Mancini, and while he is full of praise for the returning CT, he says that his predecessor Gennaro Gattuso was unlucky with the circumstances during his reign: ‘Bastoni was sent off under him, he scored twice this time around’.

Prandelli on Italy ‘revolution’, Mancini’s faith in youth and Gattuso’s bad luck It has been a positive start to Mancini’s second spell in charge of the Italy national team. The Azzurri began the extra-long September-October international break with a 2-0 defeat at home against Belgium , but put in a particularly encouraging second-half performance, then beat Turkey 4-1 away from home , drew 1-1 away against France before beating Turkey 3-1 at home in Bologna earlier this week.

BOLOGNA – OCTOBER 05: Pio Esposito of Italy celebrates scoring his team’s third goal during the UEFA Nations League 2026/27 group phase match between Italy and Türkiye at Renato Dall’Ara Stadium on October 05, 2026 in Bologna. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images) Mancini has also launched a new generation of Italy hopefuls, handing debuts to seven new players in Alessandro Romano, Michael Kayode, Matteo Ruggeri, Issa Doumbia, Mohamed Ali Zoma, Sebastiano Esposito and Antonio Vergara this break. This means that Mancini has now handed Italy debuts to 64 players across his two spells in charge.

Speaking in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport on Wednesday, former CT Prandelli described this as the start of a new revolution and says that there is no going back for Mancini.

“The revolution has begun, there’s no going back. We’re no longer the benchmark and we have to recognise that. But, if we work with our youngsters, get rid of archaic systems and give more weight to technical players, we will become great again,” said Prandelli (via Calciomercato.com ).

MILAN, ITALY – MARCH 03: Italy coach Cesare Prandelli speaks to the media during an unveiling of the new Italy team kit at Malpensa Airport on March 3, 2014 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images) Prandelli says that he would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for Mancini’s half-time team talk during the 2-0 Belgium defeat given the difference in the Italy performance in the first and second halves.

“One day, I’d like to ask Roberto what he said to the players at half-time of the Belgium game after a disastrous, unwatchable first half. I want to know how he transformed the team in just a few minutes.

“If you noticed, he stressed several times about how important the first half hour of the second half was. A coach doesn’t just say things at random, he must have seen exactly what he was looking for. That’s where we found our courage again.

“It was a different Italy. They applied pressure, they had confidence in their game, they sacrificed themselves if somebody else lost the ball. Belgium couldn’t get out of it. At the base of these performances is Roberto’s vision and courage.”

Prandelli also discussed Mancini’s use of youngsters and the difficulty that he experienced during his reign as Italy coach between 2010 and 2014.

Coach Roberto Mancini during an Italy training session (@azzurri) “Everyone talks about it, but nobody lets them play at club level. It was also tough when I was with the national team around the time that we got knocked out of the [2014] World Cup.”

Prandelli also offered his sympathy to former Italy head coach Gattuso, who did not have the time, resources or luck to show the best version of himself in the Azzurri dugout.

“Gattuso couldn’t do it because he was in a state of emergency, he had to qualify and didn’t have the time to invest in them. Let’s be honest, Rino was a bit unlucky as well. Bastoni was sent off under him but scored twice this time around.”

Prandelli has no doubts as to who Italy’s breakout star of the September-October international break was.

“The youngsters all seemed ready to me, but there’s one that has really enchanted us: Kayode. He has power, strength, calmness, speed, one-on-one ability, great personality. He goes on the attack and shoots. Everyone knew he was good, but Mancini was the first to have the courage to play him.”