Aston Villa star Nicolo Zaniolo was involved in a potentially awkward moment while on international duty with Italy as he returned to the starting line-up for their 2-1 win over Ukraine at the San Siro.
The win saw Italy move above Ukraine on goal difference as the reigning European champions look to secure qualification for Euro 2024. And the match was notable for another reason as Zaniolo lined up alongside Mattia Zaccagni in the starting XI for the first time.
Zaccagni is married to social media influencer Chiara Nasti, who was previously in a relationship with Zaniolo. Zaccagni and Nasti reportedly began dating shortly after her romance with Zaniolo ended and they tied the knot earlier this year.
The pair also have a child together, with Nasti giving birth to their son Thiago in November. Tensions rose between the trio last year when Zaniolo was playing for Roma and Zaccagni for hated rivals Lazio.
When Roma won the Europa Conference League, they celebrated with an open-top bus parade in Rome and one of the chants fans could be heard singing was "Il figlio de Zaccagni e de Zaniolo", which roughly translates to "Zaccagni's son is Zaniolo's".
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In a clip from the parade, Zaniolo appeared to laugh along with the chant prompting Nasti to hit back on social media, slamming both her ex and the Roma fans in a now-deleted comment on Instagram.
Zaniolo used to date influencer Chiara Nasti (Instagram)"With that shrimp, we don't know how he has already had a child," she wrote. "You are losers and you also suck." Zaniolo and Zaccagni were both called up to the national squad just days after the incident to face Argentina, but both ended up withdrawing due to injury.
While Zaniolo returned to the squad in November for friendlies against Albania and Austria, Zaccagni was excluded and only returned after Roberto Mancini had resigned to take charge of Saudi Arabia and was replaced by Luciano Spalletti.
Nasti is now married to Zaccagni, who she began dating shortly after breaking up with Zaniolo (Instagram)Reports from Italy claimed there was tension between the two players before Italian magazine Chi reported that Zaniolo and Zaccagni spoke about the situation at a training camp with the national team and decided to put it behind them.
And they both featured as Spalletti began his tenure as manager, with Zaccagni starting both of Italy's recent qualifiers while Zaniolo started in the win over Ukraine after coming off the bench in the draw against North Macedonia.
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