Kayode scores on Italy debut in 4-1 win over Türkiye

Michael Kayode scored on his Italy debut as the Azzurri beat Türkiye 4-1 in Bursa in the UEFA Nations League. The 22-year-old Brentford full-back put Italy 3-0 up on 27 minutes, having already forced the save that led to Davide Frattesi's opener on 22 minutes.

Alessandro Bastoni had opened the scoring after 9 minutes. Barış Alper Yılmaz pulled one back for the hosts on 47 minutes, but Francesco Pio Esposito restored Italy's three-goal cushion three minutes later. Türkiye had more of the ball, 54% possession against Italy's 46%, but managed only 3 shots on target to Italy's 8.

"I didn't expect my debut to go like this, so I am really happy," Kayode told RAI Sport. "We played in the first half with a fantastic simplicity and determination. We wanted to really prove ourselves, in a difficult match in an incredible stadium atmosphere, so winning here was fantastic. We wanted to prove something and start the charge."

Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere della Sera named him man of the match, both rating him 7/10; Corriere dello Sport and Tuttosport had him at 7.5/10, with Corriere dello Sport's award going instead to Sandro Tonali, on 8/10. Tuttosport called the display "magical". Corriere della Sera raised the question of who now moves Kayode out of the left-wing-back role Roberto Mancini had earmarked for Destiny Udogie's understudy, Giovanni Leoni, or, longer-term, for Andrea Palestra — currently sidelined and yet to make a competitive debut for Chelsea since his €60m move from Atalanta last summer.

It was Kayode's second big scoring moment for Italy at any level: he struck the winner for the Under-19s in the 2023 European Championship final against Portugal, under a coaching staff now including Alberto Bollini, Mancini's assistant. Italy move to 3 points from 2 matches, third in Group 1 of League A, and travel to face France, unbeaten leaders of their World Cup section, on 2 October.

Our pre-match prediction had backed Türkiye to win with 49% odds; that did not hold. A fuller breakdown of the match is available in our match report.