GRANT Hanley, the Scotland centre half, believes he will benefit from seeing the three man Italian back line of Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini in action up close in future.
Hanley bore the brunt of the relentless onslaught from Antonio Conte’s team in the friendly international in the Ta’ Qali Stadium in Malta on Sunday evening which his team ended up losing 1-0.
However, the Blackburn Rovers man revealed that it was the performance of the Azzurri’s renowned defence, all three of whom play for Juventus in Serie A, which had most impressed him.
The 24-year-old admitted the showings of Barzagli, Bonucci and Chiellini, who have 194 caps between them, had shown him the standards he has to attain if he wants to excel at international level.
“When you play against teams like that you realise how good they really are,” he said. “As a central defender myself, I thought Italy’s three centre backs were unbelievable.
“They were on a totally different level in all aspects of their game. For me personally it was an experience to play against players like that.
“They were so calm and never looked in any sort of danger which is no disrespect to our lads up front who played against them.
“They just showed their class and quality. Their centre backs stepped out with the ball and picked out passes. I’m sure it was good to watch from a spectator’s point of view.
“But when you’re out there and they keep picking out passes and putting you under pressure then it’s not very nice. They were different quality.”
Hanley added: “I want to play the game to test myself against the best. It didn’t go our way on Sunday night. The pitch didn’t help - it wasn’t great - but it was the same for both teams.
“It wasn’t the best of games for us, but hopefully we can benefit in the long run. You play football to play against the best and as a side they aren’t far off it.
“You can learn loads from games like that. We need to focus on ourselves and work hard to get better. It’s the same as when I have played against top English Premier League strikers.”
The Scotland display against Italy was alarming given that Gordon Strachan’s side only have one more game, against France in Metz on Saturday, before they start their Russia 2018 qualifying campaign gets underway.
The national team will have to raise their standards considerably if they hope to take anything from the countries they are due to face in Group F – England, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania and Malta - and book a place in Russia.
But Hanley, who stated he had no knowledge of speculation linking him with a transfer to Ladbrokes Championship winners Rangers this summer, is confident the country will be ready for their first competitive match against Malta in September and can acquit themselves well.
“I think we can close that gap on the top teams by the time the World Cup qualifiers come around,” he said. We fancy ourselves, we always back ourselves and go into every game feeling confident.
“It doesn’t really matter who we play. We always go into every game feeling confident. We respect teams but we’re always confident in our own ability and know we’re going to work harder than anyone.”
Hanley, who had to leave the field to receive medical attention after suffering a cut to his head in the second half of the Italy game, is focusing on performing well for Scotland against France.
But the 21-times capped player intends to return to Blackburn, who are now managerless after Paul Lambert stood down at the end of the Ewood Park club’s season, and focus on winning promotion to the Barclays Premier League next season.
“The wee lad up front caught me,” he said. “It wasn’t a bad one, he just nicked me. The ball was quite low and I went for it and he caught me with his elbow, but he didn’t mean it and the doc came on and filled it full of glue - so I’ve got another nice scar!
“I’m away with Scotland just now so I’m concentrating on this and we’ll see what happens with Blackburn Rovers when I go back, but hopefully a new manager will be named soon and I’ll pick up from pre-season.”
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