Quirinale, Berrettini and the national team will be at Mattarella on Monday
Berrettini makes history and flies to the semifinals at Wimbledon
The final is Italy-England, the Three Lions beat Denmark
Italy-England: from Highbury to Wembley, Mancini wants 11 lions
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July 10, 2021The Wimbledon final and the final of the European Football Championships in the sign of blue herald a Sunday full of passion for cheering Italy. We deploy
Matteo Berrettini
in the most prestigious tennis court in the world and our
national team
will try to conquer London. Enthusiasm is already skyrocketing with social networks going crazy between risky predictions and conjurations, between hopes and superstitious pessimism and even some "long-distance quarrels". On Twitter, the Italians accuse the British of having won in an unsportsmanlike manner against Denmark and the British recall the alleged false injury of Immobile against Belgium.
It starts immediately after lunch. On the central court of
Wimbledon
, around 3 pm, the first Italian able to reach the final of the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world takes the field. Matteo Berrettini, Roman, 25, will deal directly with the number 1, the super favorite Novak Djokovic who is looking for the twentieth Slam title of his long career at Wimbledon, to reach Nadal and Federer and to feed a dream called "Grand Slam "after the successes in 2021 in Australia and at Roland Garros.
After a heart-pounding afternoon, just the time for dinner, and in the early evening the tricolor is back in hand. The
final of Euro 2020
between England and Italy is
staged
. The National of the Three Lions has been waiting to raise a trophy since 1966, the home edition of the World Cup. The Azzurri have been waiting to celebrate the European Championships since 1968 - with in between, however, four world finals with two wins and the disappointment of not qualifying for Russia 2018.
To establish the common thread between the two events was Mister Mancini: "Congratulations, Matteo: Sunday with the heart in Wimbledon and Wembley, Italy!". Berrettini will try to re-write history, taking away in any case the satisfaction of overtaking Federer in the world rank, the national team will have to contend with an England thirsty for victory, which has been missing from London for 55 years.
British Prime Minister
Boris Johnson
even announced in a burst of enthusiasm that in the event of a trophy he would institute a national holiday day, but perhaps he did not expect Scotland to have entirely different plans. The independence newspaper
The National
has in fact published a full-page photo of a close-up of Mancini, made up and dressed as Braveheart, the famous hero of the first war of independence of Scotland from England. Which sounds like a clear statement of cheering ...
And the cheering, of course, will not fail. Composed of Wimbledon, as befits the oldest event in the sport of tennis, decidedly more wild that of Wembley, 15 kilometers away. After all, the home team takes the field. In addition to the 7,000 Italians in London, Italy will be supported by President
Sergio Mattarella
and the memory goes back to the 1982 World Cup. He will sit in the stands next to Prince William, and has already invited the finalists to the Quirinale on Monday. Berrettini will cheer from the All England Club grass. "I'll bring the Italian flag to the pitch," he said.
All the others are left with the sofa and the tricolor taken out of the drawer and hung on the window as in Buckingham Palace the flag indicating that the Queen is there. An iced tea for the afternoon, perhaps the classic "onion omelette" of Fantozzi's memory for the evening. Outside, the silence of the streets broken by the screams that run from house to house.
And this time the "offside and tie-break graduates, off-field and volley for a day" who have already invaded social networks are welcome. Do not disturb the party. Or rather, the painful knot of the "squares" remains, another but collective rite that brings to mind the World Cup and the carousels in the streets, the faces painted in green, white and red, the trumpets and banners. Yes, the squares, downgraded from "improvised mini stadiums" to "dangerous epidemiological bombs". In Milan, Venice, Padua, Trieste, Palermo, Cagliari and Sassari there will be no big screens. The Olimpico will not open in Rome. Throughout Italy the appeal is for "conscious" cheering: a mask in case of gatherings, distancing, prudence and respect for oneself and for others.
The blue defender,
Leonardo Bonucci
, sent a message to the fans: "I saw harsh images - he says - difficult, disrespectful, which should be stigmatized", then he said that "the victory on Sunday would be a great confidence boost for Italy and for the entire football movement , for us and for the Federation. Let's not do conspiracy, let's just think about playing football, not about the rest ".
Bonucci is right. This Italy, so bent by the pandemic, by the incessant bulletins of infections and victims, needed to celebrate, was hungry for good news like a conquered final, perhaps won. It had been understood since she found herself united in the sign of the Maneskin, winners of Sanremo, but above all of Eurovision, a springboard for the world judging by the rankings. As if to say: "I'm still there, I resist, I fight, maybe I win even when it seems impossible". Who knows. Meanwhile, this wait for Wimbledon and then Wembley is already a great "confidence boost". Long live Italy.