Mancini's Italy Thrash Turkey 4-1 in Nations League

Italy beat Turkey 4-1 in Nations League on a rain-soaked pitch, and the result has been picked up across the foreign sports press as evidence that Roberto Mancini's side, back at the helm after the failed World Cup qualifying campaign, has turned a corner.

Spain's Mundo Deportivo led with "Mancini's new Italy triumphs and redeems itself in Turkey", running the Azzurri's group celebration on its front page. Marca went with "This really is the 'Azzurra'" and used a photo of the Esposito brothers celebrating, while As kept it to two words: "Storm Italy".

The reaction reached beyond Europe. Argentina's Olé wrote "Italy has woken up" — a striking headline from a country whose own side sit top of the World Cup table on 9 points from three matches, unbeaten since Lionel Messi's retirement from the national team earlier this month. In England, The Guardian summed it up as "Italy overwhelm Turkey". L'Equipe in France struck a more cautious note for the hosts, warning that "before facing Les Bleus, Italy dominate Turkey by a wide margin". Portuguese outlets focused on the teenage forward Francesco Camarda's understudy, Doumbia, brought on by Mancini: "A new Italy, the same Turkey: a thrashing with an assist from Doumbia".

The win follows a shaky start to the Nations League under Mancini, whose opening fixture away to Belgium had rattled Italian supporters still smarting from Zenica, where Italy missed out on a third straight World Cup. Turkey, managed by Vincenzo Montella, had arrived unbeaten in their previous outings.

A single result does not settle the question of whether Mancini's rebuild is holding, but the scale of it — four goals away from home, in heavy rain, against a Montella side with something to prove — has been enough to change the conversation abroad, at least for now.