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They say that scoring goals cures many ills in football, and that seems to be case for Lorenzo Insigne and Antonio Conte. After the two reportedly stopped seeing eye-to-eye following Napoli pulling him from the national squad earlier in the season, Insigne and the national team manager worked out their differences after Insigne scored Italy's lone goal against Spain on Thursday.
It was a wonderful evening with a goal, it’s a shame about the result, but the important thing is we all had a good game and played with intensity.
The Coach and I cleared the air, it was a misunderstanding. I always said I am very proud to represent Italy and I will always give everything for Italy. If we continue working together like this and following the Coach’s directives, whoever goes to the Euros will try to go all the way.
-Source: Football Italia
The appearance was Insigne's first in the national team since the 2014 World Cup, though he had been called up several times and left on the bench following that fateful failure by Gli Azzurri that ultimately put Conte in charge of the national team.
Back in October, though, Napoli pulled Insigne out of the national team for Italy's last two Euro qualifiers after lingering knee pain didn't improve, preferring that their vital attacker rest and recover rather than risk aggravating his surgically-repaired knee. That action reportedly angered Conte, who kept Insigne out of the squad in November and reportedly saw his relationship with the forward deteriorate afterwards.
Now, though, all seems to be well -- Insigne is back in the national team squad, he's playing well, he's scored a goal, and perhaps he's off the fringes of the picture of the Euro 2016 squad. While some Napoli fans would rather he get time to rest during the tournament, it's hard to argue that having Insigne playing a major role wouldn't give Italy's chances of success in France a significant boost -- and that playing in the Euros would make Insigne himself happy as well.