Insigne tells Vergara to 'keep going' after Italy beat

Insigne tells Vergara to 'keep going' after Italy beat France

Napoli's only player in the Italy squad got encouragement in the dressing room at San Siro. Insigne also sent his best wishes to a side that is tenth in Serie A.

by Gennaro SanninoFriday 13 November, 07:15 CET· 34 min ago

Lo stadio Diego Armando Maradona di Napoli

Lo stadio Diego Armando Maradona — Foto: Pochos at Italian Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0

Insigne watched from the stands at San Siro as Italy came from behind to beat France 3-1 in the Nations League. The win puts Italy top of the group on 10 points, ahead of France on head-to-head record. After the final whistle he went down to the dressing room. "I got the chance to hug pretty much everyone, Vergara among them," he said.

His message to the Napoli midfielder was "Keep going". He called Vergara "a down-to-earth lad" with "great quality". Insigne won 54 Italy caps as a Napoli player, so that is not idle praise. At club level, though, Vergara has barely played: 7 league appearances and 271 minutes. Against Lazio, Allegri used him as a wing-back, far from goal. The talent may be there. How it gets used is up to the coach.

On Napoli, Insigne said: "I'm a Napoli supporter, I hope the team can have a very good season." The table says otherwise. Napoli are tenth on 15 points after 11 games, level with the worst start of the De Laurentiis era, and have gone three matches without a win. Torino visit the Maradona on Saturday 21 November at 20:45 CET (19:45 UK, 14:45 ET). It is the first home game since the supporters' protest.