Donadoni delight at Azzurri spirit

Italy coach Roberto Donadoni praised the Azzurri's character after the 2-1 victory in Ukraine which took them back into a UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying position with three games left.

No fear
The home 0-0 draw with France on Saturday had allowed Scotland to interpose themselves between Les Bleus and the world champions in Group B. However, two Antonio Di Natale goals either side of an Andriy Shevchenko strike in Kiev last night allowed Italy to move one point ahead of France, beaten at home by new leaders Scotland. A delighted Donadoni declared: "When we play with this spirit we cannot fear any opponents."

Coach's gratitude
Donadoni had come in for criticism after the weekend result but following Wednesday's victory, sealed 13 minutes from time, he said: "We are a step behind all the other teams that we are facing right now physically because the league has just started in Italy. However, I want to thank my players for what they did. France's defeat against Scotland proved you cannot take anything for granted at this level. We will just continue on our own path as we have from the start of this qualifying campaign."

First test passed
Left-back Gianluca Zambrotta added: "This is the best win of our campaign. We suffered, we fought hard, and we deserved a win for ourselves and for the coach. I don't know if Scotland's victory in France was a good result for us because we still have to play away against them. We have three finals to play after passing the first examination, despite not being at the top of our condition. But the road is still very long."