After a gap of 111 years, two brothers have once again started together in Italy’s national team. Roberto Mancini named Pio Esposito and Sebastiano Esposito in Italy’s starting XI for their Nations League match against Turkey.
Their appearance also created another piece of Italian football history: the Esposito family became the first family to have three brothers play for Italy’s senior national team.
Pio and Sebastiano both started in Italy’s 4–1 victory over Turkey. Before them, the last brothers to start together for Italy had been Aldo and Luigi Cevenini, who featured in the starting lineup against Switzerland in 1915.
More than a century passed before two brothers again started the same match for Italy. In 2000, Filippo and Simone Inzaghi were both on the field against England, but they came on as substitutes and played together for only 11 minutes.
The Esposito family has now reached an even greater milestone. Their elder brother Salvatore made his Italy debut in 2022 under Mancini, against England. Sebastiano and Pio subsequently earned their own opportunities with the national team, making the Espositos the first family in Italy’s history to have three brothers represent the senior side.
The match against Turkey was also memorable for Mancini, who recorded his first victory since returning to the Italy job.
Italy took control in the first half, moving 3–0 ahead through Alessandro Bastoni, Davide Frattesi and debutant Michael Kayode. Pio Esposito then headed home a rebound in the second half to make it 4–0. Turkey pulled one goal back late on, but Italy held on for a 4–1 victory.
The result also gave Italy their first away victory by a margin of at least three goals since 2019.
