Mancini hails resolve shown

Mancini himself scored with four minutes remaining to grab a share of the spoils, after Lorenzo Pellegrini’s early opener was wiped away by second half strikes from Milan Skriniar and Achraf Hakimi.

When the Giallorossi went behind it looked like another second half collapse could be in store, but instead Paulo Fonseca’s side steadied themselves and finished strongly.

“There was a bit of everything in this game,” Mancini said.

“We played really well in the first half, giving them just one chance. In the second half they upped the intensity and we didn’t cope well, we need to work on that.

“But we were able to get through it, we improved and in the end we got an equaliser.

"The important thing is we didn’t suffer the ‘blackout’ like in other matches. From 2-1 down we could still get something out of it – and that’s what we did.”

He added: “The games against Napoli and Atalanta were lessons for us, they were painful. In other games we lost our heads, but here we stayed in it and found the right time to equalise.

“We could have done even better, but it didn’t quite happen.”

Mancini was pleased that the side seemed to demonstrate clear progress from recent big game disappointments.

“We can all make mistakes, but you can’t keep repeating them,” the Italy international noted.

“Playing every three days means there are going to be ups and downs, but that’s no excuse. We have to stay focused when the intensity rises and not give much away.

“To stay up near the top of the table we can’t afford to concede many goals.’