Pio Esposito family affair for Italy and ‘enjoying our football’

Francesco Pio Esposito celebrates with his brother Sebastiano Esposito during Turkiye vs. Italy in the Nations League (@azzurri)

Francesco Pio Esposito reveals he had a very special family dedication after scoring for Italy in a 4-1 win away to Turkiye, not just for brother Sebastiano’s debut.

It was a total transformation from the side that lost 2-0 at home to Belgium, both in terms of personnel with eight changes, but also the performance.

The Azzurri looked a different team from the start, surging into a 3-0 lead in Bursa with goals from Alessandro Bastoni, Davide Frattesi and Michael Kayode.

When Turkiye did fight back with Baris Alper Yilmaz straight after the restart, Pio Esposito nodded in the rebound from Sandro Tonali’s shot off the upright for the 4-1 result.

“I want to dedicate the goal to my grandmother, who is not going through a good time, and I really wanted to score for her,” Pio Esposito told RAI Sport.

Naturally, this is also the grandmother of his older brother Sebastiano, who made his senior Italy debut this evening.

It is the first time since 1915 that two brothers have been in the starting XI for the Nazionale.

“I remember my first time for the senior Italy side, as it was only last year, so I tried not to add any more pressure onto his shoulders. I hope he enjoyed it,” said Pio.

“It was wonderful sharing this experience with him and I hope to do so many more times.”

There were also debuts for Michael Kayode and Matteo Ruggeri, but it was night and day from the side that lost 2-0 to Belgium.

“We felt a lot of enthusiasm, the kind you must always have when wearing this shirt. Football doesn’t always go the way we want, but we must always have this attitude,” added Pio Esposito.

“Today we really enjoyed our football and I think you could tell.”

Pio has now scored six goals in 11 senior games for Italy, becoming the first player after Giuseppe Meazza to score six before turning 21.

Italy continue the Nations League campaign by visiting Zinedine Zidane’s France on Friday October 2.