‘He is surprising me’ – Chivu impressed with Esposito development
Francesco Pio Esposito scored his first Serie A goal for Inter in their 2-0 win against Cagliari, much to the delight of Cristian Chivu.
Inter head coach Cristian Chivu revealed that he has been surprised by the quality of striker Francesco Pio Esposito.
The 20-year-old forward scored Inter’s second goal in their 2-0 win against Cagliari, after Lautaro Martinez’s opener in the ninth minute.
Esposito’s goal saw him become the fourth-youngest Italian player to score for Inter in Serie A since 2000 (20 years, 91 days), after his brother Sebastiano (17 years, 172 days), Mario Balotelli (17 years, 238 days), and Davide Faraoni (20 years, 74 days).
After the youngster also scored in their Club World Cup win against River Plate in the summer, Chivu hopes he can continue to find the net this season.
“We must not forget he is only 20 years old, he has his whole future ahead of him, he just has to keep working the way he is now,” Chivu told Sky Sports Italia.
“He’s got great quality, but also real margin for improvement, so he’s got to keep his feet on the ground.
“I admit, he is surprising me with how well he’s doing, as he plays for the team and knows how to do certain things, is not afraid of anything, keeps a cool head in front of goal, and I’m glad he managed to get his first goal. Maybe this can help him relax even more.”
The win itself was Inter’s 1600th win in Serie A; they are the second team to reach this landmark after Juventus (1714).
Inter have also scored the most headed goals in Serie A this season (four), while Cagliari are the team that have conceded the most goals from this situation in the top-flight (four).
Chivu was pleased to see the win through with a clean sheet, their second of the campaign.
“Cagliari surprised us a little with a change of tactics, but the principles remained the same and we opened the scoring early on,” added Chivu.
“I think Cagliari have the tallest squad in Europe, so we already knew they would be dangerous from dead ball situations and we tried to add a few centimetres to our team.
“They also know how to time their runs and jumps, but we kept a clean sheet, and that too was important.
“We had the opportunities to finish it off, but we didn’t take them and that gave Cagliari more confidence, they also started throwing on strikers, but we managed to lock it down eventually and I am pleased.”
