Hansi Flick, Joshua Kimmich react to Germany’s 1-1 draw with Italy

Despite dominating in virtually every department, Germany was only able to escape Bologna with a point after their 1-1 draw with Italy at the Renato Dall’Ara. The opportunity was there for the taking as Roberto Mancini made a slew of changes to the side that lost the Finalissima 3-0 to Argentina in the middle of the week at Wembley Stadium in London, England.

After level-pegging for the better part of 70 minutes, Lorenzo Pelligrini opened the scoring against the run of play, but Joshua Kimmich’s goal just three minutes later re-leveled proceedings. Kimmich nearly added a second in the 79th minute, but a brilliant save for Gianluigi Donnarumma prevented Hansi Flick’s side from taking full points in the end.

Speaking after the match, Kimmich said that he felt Germany should’ve done far more with the dominance they had for most of the match, especially since Italy are going through a bit of a transitional phase at the moment after failing to qualify for this winter’s World Cup in Qatar. “It doesn’t matter whether the result is fair or not, it’s too little for us. Italy is in transition, that’s why we really wanted to win. We didn’t manage to bring our game onto the pitch and didn’t have the intensity that people are used to from us. Against England, we have to be calmer and not make quite so many mistakes,” he explained (DFB).

Flick shared Kimmich’s sentiment, knowing that his side should’ve capitalized more during their spells of dominance. In particular, he was most impressed with the opening 25 minutes, but felt that Italy started to pose more threats from then onward. “We certainly can’t be completely satisfied. It was okay in the first quarter of an hour, but after that we didn’t find the spaces, made a lot of mistakes and let ourselves get a bit out of control. After the 0:1 — and that’s the positive thing - the team came back and then also tried to go for the 2:1. We’ll analyze the game and try to do better on Tuesday against England,” he said.

Hansi Flick used Jamal Musiala, Jonas Hofmnan, Ilkay Gundogan, Kai Havertz, and David Raum as subs for Leroy Sane, Thomas Muller, Serge Gnabry, Leon Goretzka and Benjamin Henrichs against Italy. It remains to be seen how he’ll choose to lineup against England, who will also be looking for a positive response after getting shocked by Hungary, losing 1-0 at the Puskas Arena.