Di Lorenzo believes that criticizing the team indiscriminately will not bring any benefits.

Mancini's Italy suffered a 0-2 defeat to Belgium in their opening group stage match of the 2026/27 UEFA Nations League, conceding goals in both halves. In an interview, Di Lorenzo stated that the team must maintain their positive performance and emphasized that excessive criticism of the team would not bring any benefit.

In the 20th minute, De Bruyne played a through ball to Mika Holtz, who then entered the penalty area and fired a low shot into the net, giving Belgium a 1-0 lead.

In the 69th minute of the second half, De Cerrare chipped a pass to Lukebakio, who broke through to the edge of the penalty area before unleashing a long-range shot to give Belgium a 2-0 lead over Italy.

Ultimately, Italy lost 0-2 to Belgium at home.

Italian defender Di Lorenzo said, "Leaving the field to boo's is certainly painful, but we have to accept it. The team has done its best, and it's a pity we didn't get off to a good start. We know we need to improve. At the beginning of the game, we played a bit nervously, but as the game progressed, our performance gradually improved."

“Belgium has very good players, and they made good use of every mistake we made in this game. It’s a real shame because when we conceded the second goal, we were actually playing better than before and created chances to equalize.”

Di Lorenzo continued, "We must continue the positive momentum we showed in this game, and this is the right path. We also know what the manager wants, and he wants to see a proactive and courageous team. This is the first of four games, and we did make some mistakes, but from now on we will do better."

"It wasn't actually a bad game. At times we controlled the game, but the course of the match changed very quickly. This is a new era, and there are some new faces. It's normal for them to make mistakes in the first few games. It won't help if we start criticizing the Italian national team again right now."

In addition, Di Lorenzo said, "We hope to regain our competitiveness as soon as possible, and I also think that the team has some confidence issues. The only way to improve this is to achieve results against strong teams."

Image source: Internet