'Soldiers with a mission' - Pascali explains Serie A's love affair with Scots

BBC News

29-05-2025

The success of Italy's Scottish imports has been widely covered in recent seasons, a hype which has reached new heights in the past 12 months with Napoli's Serie A title success.Scott McTominay was the leading light for Antonio Conte's side, while Billy Gilmour also played a crucial role as they beat Inter to the summit.Elsewhere, Lewis Ferguson won the Coppa Italia with Bologna, Che Adams scored 10 goals for Torino and Josh Doig helped Sassuolo to the Serie B title.One man who knows the ins and outs of Scottish and Italian football more than most is Kilmarnock icon Manuel Pascali, who now commentates on Serie A alongside a burgeoning coaching career."McTominay has been incredible. He was the difference in terms of presence and leadership," Pascali told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast. "All credit to Gilmour as well. When he has been called into action, he was incredible. Such a composed played, tidy on the ball."When asked to explain why Scottish players tend to thrive in Italian football, Pascali says it boils down to mentality."They are soldiers with a mission," he said. "This is what Scottish people are about. You can trust them, you can rely on them. "For example, if Italian players don't play 10 games, they give up and want to swap teams. "Watch Gilmour for example playing not many games, but every time he's been called, he was magnificent, the quality has never dropped."Napoli's duo were not the only Scots to win silverware in the 2024-25 season and Pascali says Ferguson's success with Bologna means he is now viewed as an honorary Italian."Ferguson is almost Italian now because he's been for Bologna three seasons," Pascali said. "At the moment he is the skipper. "They won the Italian Cup after 41 years. I was at the game at the Stadio Olimpico. I saw him and had a chat with a couple of his friends coming from Scotland with the Scottish flag on."Adams' Torino finished 11th in Italy's top flight after a flying start to the campaign and Pascali says the former Southampton striker is best deployed in a front two."Torino started very well," Pascali said. "Adams did a nice job, scoring nine league goals. The main difference was an injury to Duvan Zapata, who was the main man up top playing alongside Adams. "Adams is the kind of striker you want in your team, he runs a lot, he is quick and powerful. He needs to play with another striker though." And Pascali touched on Doig's Sassuolo, who he says were simply too strong for the other sides in Serie B."Sassuolo last season had a nightmare - they basically got relegated because they lost Domenico Berardi to injury."Doig is a player who has a great engine and Sassuolo were too good in Serie B."