Emanuele Giaccherini was unable to hide his delight after Italy secured a ‘thoroughly deserved’ victory over Belgium at Euro 2016.
The Sunderland midfielder opened the scoring against the Red Devils after linking emphatically with Leonardo Bonucci, with Southampton’s Graziano Pelle volleying home the points in added time to make it 2-0.
Post-match Giaccherini was named Man of the Match and speaking to Sky Italia he revelled in a memorable win.
“In my view this was a thoroughly deserved victory from everyone.
“It went well tonight. Against Scotland I had two similar runs and didn’t score, but fortunately in the game that counted I made the most of it.”
He added: “The first touch was what allowed me to score. As the ball stayed right there and I was able to fire it in.
“At the final whistle I threw the shirt to my father in the stands as he made so many sacrifices in life to celebrate this evening and he deserves it.”