Montella's Homecoming Test: How Türkiye vs Italy Actually Went

Italy beat Türkiye 4-1 at Timsah Arena in Bursa on Monday, September 28, 2026, turning Vincenzo Montella’s homecoming match into a rout and handing Roberto Mancini his first win since returning as Italy’s head coach. The result came in Matchday 2 of UEFA Nations League League A Group 1, three days after both teams had opened the campaign with defeats. Here’s exactly how the match unfolded, what both managers said afterward, and where it leaves the group standings.

What was the final score, and who scored?

Italy won 4-1, with three goals inside the first 27 minutes putting the result out of reach before Türkiye had even settled into the match. Alessandro Bastoni opened the scoring in the 9th minute, Davide Frattesi doubled the lead in the 22nd, and Michael Kayode made it 3-0 in the 27th, capping a dominant first half played in rainy conditions. Barış Alper Yılmaz pulled a goal back for the hosts two minutes into the second half, but Francesco Pio Esposito restored Italy’s three-goal cushion in the 50th minute, and neither side scored again.

How did Vincenzo Montella’s homecoming go?

Montella’s return to face his home country ended in one of the heaviest results of his time in charge of Türkiye. The Turkish head coach, an Italian who won 20 caps for the Azzurri between 1999 and 2005 and reached the Euro 2000 final with Italy, had said before the match that he wanted to beat his home country after Türkiye opened the group with a 0-1 loss to France. Instead his side conceded three goals before the half-hour mark in front of its own fans in Bursa, and Turkish supporters inside the stadium began chanting for Montella’s removal before halftime.

What did Montella and Mancini say afterward?

Montella said he didn’t expect the crowd to turn on his team so quickly, and pointed to a lack of composure at this level of competition. “The first half-hour was certainly one to forget,” he said. “Playing every three days at this level requires a certain focus and experience that we are currently lacking.” He added that the atmosphere before kickoff had been “marvellous,” and that he “really didn’t expect the reaction so quickly after all these lads have done in the last three years” — a reference to Türkiye reaching the 2026 World Cup under his management for the first time in 24 years, even though the team was eliminated in the group stage there, and to its rise from League C to League B in the Nations League.

Mancini, for his part, praised his players’ response to a difficult pitch. “We were on a pitch where it had been raining for a whole day, and it was only natural to expect a response from Türkiye,” he said, adding that his team “pushed up, kept the ball, moved it around well.” He also said forward Giacomo Raspadori was substituted at halftime as a precaution after picking up a knock, calling it a problem the staff preferred to manage rather than risk aggravating in the second half.

Where does this leave Roberto Mancini’s rebuild of Italy?

The win was Mancini’s first since returning for a second spell as Italy’s head coach, and it followed Italy missing the 2026 World Cup entirely. Mancini was appointed in July 2026 after Gennaro Gattuso left the job following Italy’s playoff loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which kept the Azzurri out of the World Cup for a third straight cycle. Italy had also opened this Nations League campaign with a loss, going down 0-2 at home to Belgium on Matchday 1, so Monday’s result in Bursa was the first competitive win of Mancini’s second spell in charge.

What do the League A Group 1 standings look like now?

France leads Group 1 with six points after two wins, while Italy and Türkiye occupy opposite ends of the rest of the table. Belgium beat Italy 2-0 on Matchday 1 but lost 0-1 to France on Matchday 2, leaving Belgium level with Italy on three points; Italy holds the tiebreak on goals scored after its 4-1 win in Bursa. Türkiye sits bottom of the group without a point from two matches.

What’s next for both teams?

Türkiye travels to face Belgium, and Italy plays away to France in Paris, both on Friday, October 2, 2026, as Matchday 3 continues League A Group 1 play. Both fixtures fall in the October 1-3, 2026 window; the group’s six-game league phase runs through mid-November before the top two finishers in each League A group advance to two-legged quarterfinals in March 2027. For a fuller look at how this season’s expanded Nations League format, schedule and promotion system works, see our guide to the 2026-27 Nations League’s new format and schedule .

Monday’s result in Bursa was only the second round of a six-game group stage, but it already reshaped both teams’ outlook heading into October: Mancini has the first signature response of his rebuild, while Montella faces mounting pressure at home before Türkiye’s trip to Belgium.