Roberto Mancini: 'Mauro Icardi can be a great'

Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini has said that striker Mauro Icardi is destined to fire himself into the upper echelons of European football.

The Argentine hitman, 22, netted an 88th-minute winner as Inter defeated Roma 2-1 at the San Siro last night, bringing his total for the season to 18 in all competitions.

Hernanes opened the scoring on 15 minutes, a goal which was cancelled out by Radja Nainggolan after the hour mark, but Mancini reserved special praise for Icardi.

He told Sky Sport Italia: "He's [Icardi] already a great striker, but he can become a champion.

"He has the opportunities; sometimes he scores and sometimes he does not, but the great quality is that he shakes off those failures and gets right back out there.

"Today he missed a big chance and soon after scored in a similar situation. Not everyone has that mentality."

Icardi, who has been linked with a summer move away from Inter, is contracted to the Nerazzurri until 2018.