Roma midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo played a starring role on Monday night as Italy finished their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign with a 9-1 win over Armenia.
Starting as a right winger – the role he has been playing most often for his club this season – Zaniolo slotted the ball under Aram Ayrapetyan’s body just nine minutes in, becoming the youngest ever Roma player to score for the senior Italy side in the process.
🗺 INTERNATIONALS 🗺
— Giallorossi Yorkshire (@RomaYorkshire) November 19, 2019
🇮🇹 Nicolò #Zaniolo scored his first two Italy goals and got an assist as the @azzurri beat Armenia 9-1 to complete Euro 2020 qualifying with a 100% record.
🇧🇦 @EdDzeko came on as a 70th minute substitute as Bosnia & Herzegovina beat Liechtenstein 3-0.
Later in the game, he set up Ciro Immobile to make it 4-0, before grabbing a second goal for himself in the second half.
Zaniolo, still only 20, continues to make a positive impression at a young age. Here is how he compares to other players from Roma’s past in getting his first Italy goal.
1 - Nicolò #Zaniolo is the youngest AS Roma scorer with Italian National Team (20 years and 139 days). Gladiator.#ItaliaArmenia pic.twitter.com/cTg2aM0I5A
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) November 18, 2019
Of the other five youngest Roma players to score a senior international goal, none scored a brace as quickly as Zaniolo. De Rossi, Cassano and Ancelotti all scored on their Italy debuts at an older age than Zaniolo, but the latter two would never score on the international stage again.
De Rossi and Cassano did continue to score for the Azzurri, with it taking Cassano until the age of 29 to score a double, and De Rossi having to wait until the age of 28.
While Zaniolo’s brace came against a low quality opponent, he continues to perform ahead of schedule. He has now scored six goals in his last eight games for club and country. One more goal for Roma this season will see him match last year’s tally already.
Tellingly, all his goals have come from the right-hand side, which proves he is adapting to a position many felt was unnatural for him. It is clear now that he has the opportunity to grow into a top class right winger.
And it’s a chance he should take. With Javier Pastore returning to form and Lorenzo Pellegrini returning to fitness, competition in his ‘preferred’ number 10 role is stacked. Out wide, he only has to compete with Cengiz Under, and maybe Justin Kluivert.
Zaniolo is undoubtedly in the best form of the three of them, and if he continues this lethal run, he can definitively establish himself as first choice.
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