On every front possible, Italy showed how it's done on the opening night of Euro 2020.
Roberto Mancini's side ran out 3-0 winners over Turkey at Rome's Stadio Olimpico, and in all truth it could have been more.
And all that followed an opening ceremony capped by Andrea Bocelli's stirring rendition of "Nessun Dorma", while Mancini and co laid down a sartorial marker redolent of predecessors like Enzo Bearzot.
This was vintage Italy who, for the first time, broke their old two-goal ceiling in a European Championship finals game.
Merih Demiral's OG is the first goal of the tournament and Italy lead #TUR 0-1 #ITA#TURITA #EURO2020 #RTEsoccer
📱 Live updates - https://t.co/fgE7I0dP3Q
📺 Watch live - https://t.co/bZMmmPDnlU pic.twitter.com/44RbmxyTiB— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 11, 2021
The first took long enough to come, despite 45-minutes of near constant probing from the Azzurri.
Turkey were forced into a rearguard action as Jorginho and Lorenzo Insigne pulled the strings, while Leonardo Spinazzola's raids down the left were of constant worry to Senol Gunes' charges.
When the deadlock was finally broken, ironically it came from down the right. Domenico Berardi turned Umut Meras inside-out, before flashing a ball across goal that was turned into the Turkish net by Juventus defender Merih Demiral.
The goal came after Turkey had found some traction at last, with Cengiz Under forcing a low save from Gianluigi Donnarumma. Up until that point, Burat Yilmaz had cut a lonely figure up top for the Turks.
Ciro Immobile made it 2-0 midway through the second period, having been found by another Spinazzola ball.
Ciro Immobile slots home from close range to double Italy's lead#TUR 0-2 #ITA#TURITA #EURO2020 #RTEsoccer
📱 Live updates - https://t.co/fgE7I0dP3Q
📺 Watch live - https://t.co/bZMmmPDnlU pic.twitter.com/Hui6kTIGc8— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 11, 2021
And Insigne's tireless play founds its reward 11-minutes from time, when he fired past Ugurcan Cakir to give Italy the scoreline their play deserved.
Switzerland are next into the lions' den on Wednesday (June 16), while Wales could well be licking their lips ahead of their meeting with Turkey in Baku.
Lorenzo Insigne scores Italy's third and wraps up the points #TUR 0-3 #ITA #TURITA #EURO2020 #RTEsoccer
📱 Live updates - https://t.co/fgE7I0dP3Q
📺 Watch live - https://t.co/bZMmmPDnlU pic.twitter.com/6KZjmrITLK— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 11, 2021
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