The shock defeat of England by Hungary — one thing not seen for sixty years! — was not the one little bit of worldwide motion involving Chelsea gamers on Saturday. In actual fact, the opposite two groups in that Nations League group, Italy and Germany, confronted one another as effectively.
Italy, contemporary off their lopsided defeat in opposition to Argentina, did somewhat higher in opposition to Germany, particularly within the second half, and did briefly seize the lead, even, earlier than Timo Werner and Kai Havertz mixed to create an opportunity that Joshua Kimmich finally transformed. I believe we will credit score Werner with an help. With the factors break up, England end matchday 1 on the backside of the group desk.
Italy had been with out both Jorginho or Emerson, who’ve been excused from the remainder of this Nations League silliness over the following ten days, whereas Werner began for Germany and Havertz performed the ultimate 20 minutes. Antonio Rüdiger, now formally a Actual Madrid participant, performed the complete 90 as effectively.
In the meantime, Senegal started the defence of their Africa Cup of Nations title with a straightforward 3-1 victory over Benin in entrance of a raucous house crowd.
Liverpool’s Sadio Mané did no hurt to his switch market prospects (nor his legendary standing for the locals) with a hat trick, whereas Édouard Mendy had largely a nap in purpose till a late comfort from the guests.