The tactician is satisfied following a clean and silky performance against Northern Ireland...

Italy coach Marcello Lippi is satisfied with his players, and with Inter starlet Davide Santon after a convincing 3-0 win over Northern Ireland during the friendly match in Pisa on Saturday night.

The Azzurri cruised to an easy win thanks to goals from Giuseppe Rossi, Pasquale Foggia, and Sergio Pellissier. The Chievo man made his Azzurri debut alongside Santon, Giuseppe Mascara, and Federico Marchetti.

Lippi has hailed all the new debutants and he talked up Santon's potential.

"It was a good result and I am happy," Lippi told Rai Uno.

"The players responded really well, and this is Italian football.

"Santon was outstanding, he has intelligence to understand that he is a good player, and he has not wasted time in showing it."

"I am happy with the effort all my players put in, in particular with those from the smaller Italian sides like Chievo [Pellissier], Siena [Galloppa], Catania [Mascara], teams which have played really well in Serie A this season. This is what Italian football is all about.

"These are all great players, Mascara, Rossi, and Pellissier."

Milan's Gennaro Gattuso played in the first half and he was taken off at half-time. Lippi states he did not want to jeopardise the midfielder ahead of the upcoming Confederations Cuo tournament.

"Gattuso played well, but I did not want to risk him too much, there was no point keeping him on the pitch any longer," added the coach.

Italy will depart to South Africa where they will play New Zealand in another friendly on Wednesday night, before their match with the USA in the Confederations Cup on June 15.