Italy is the pleasure team of this Euro, before the clash against Belgium, this Friday in the quarter-finals.
Squadra Azzurra, undefeated since September 2018, combines solidity and attacking play despite a workforce without a huge star.
Competition after competition, certain factors are immutable: Italian players carry a certain class in their superb jerseys and sing their hearts out to the most catchy anthem on the planet of football. On the other hand, the style of play of the inventors of catenaccio did not always raise the crowds. Worse: their recent results have long been unworthy of a quadruple world champion nation, except for the Euro 2012 final, with the non-qualification for the 2018 World Cup as a low point.
But since the opening recital of this European Championship, against a Turkey it is truly weak (3-0), the Squadra Azzurra offers a game combining solid defensive and offensive.
Before the quarter-final against Belgium, this Friday in Munich in the quarter-final, the band in Donnarumma has in turn stuck Switzerland (3-0) and Wales (1-0) in pool then Austria (2-1 after extra time) in 8th.
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“This team pleases and makes envy, judge Benoît Cauet, remained a keen observer of transalpine football since his passage as a player, from 1997 to 2003 at Inter Milan, Torino then Como.
It is much more modern than before, when it was more about counterattacking than playing the game. "
The Mancini revolution
For Giacomo, kingpin of the specialized French site FrSerieA, “Italy needed to play football for the 21st century”. “We needed to miss the 2010s to realize that keeping the advantage was no longer enough,” continues the 29-year-old Lyonnais. We were still calculating, it was always ric-rac. Since the arrival of Mancini, we have seen river scores, against small teams of course, but which we beat before 1-0. “Beyond the players, Roberto Mancini is the real architect of the renewal of the Italian selection ... Under the leadership of the former international striker from Sampdoria Genoa, who arrived in May 2018, it has changed.
“When Gianpiero Ventura, who had no high-level reference, left, Mancini presented the perfect profile, with a lot of experience and a role of manager and not only of coach, estimates François Lerose, editor-in-chief of Calciomio, another French-speaking reference site.
He has integrated a lot of players, like Jorginho.
He gave Verratti confidence, he relaunched an Immobile that had fallen into disuse.
There was chemistry, and the mentality changed.
"
Compared to its glorious predecessors of the 1990s or 2000s, the Squadra Azzurra no longer features world superstars like the Baggio, Del Piero or Totti.
But it displays real cohesion, with elements that do not only play in big clubs like Juventus or Inter, but also in Torino (Sirigu, Belotti) or Sassuolo (Locatelli, Berardi, Raspadori).
"These players like to be together, whereas historically this has rarely been the case, except perhaps during Euro 2000," suggests Roberto Infascelli, reporter for the Roman radio station Tele Radio Stereo.
Individually, the team is not that strong.
The real champion is Verratti, who plays for a big club and has experience.
A Locatelli, for example, is a former child prodigy who was a little lost.
Spinazzola is very strong but he has never had much continuity in his career.
"
The worries of the clubs, a blessing for the selection?
In addition to Mancini's contribution, the sports journalist in the Eternal City advances another argument to explain the unprecedented offensive appetite of the Italians. “Contrary to what has been the case in our history, we no longer have great defensive players like in the days of Baresi, Cannavarro, Buffon. However, the experienced Chiellini, even on one leg, and Bonucci remain with Verratti of the relays of Mancini.
"And alongside these players, the generation of Locatelli, Barella or Bastoni is winning," said Cauet. In fact, the national team represents what has happened in the last three or four years in Serie A. The Italian league has suffered a lot financially and a lot of young players have been launched. "The misfortune of the big clubs of La Botte has therefore made the happiness of Squadra Azzurra, which will not, however, leave favorite this Friday against Belgium, even sitting on a series of 31 games without defeat for nearly three years, absolute record of its glorious history.
Faced with the "new" rivals of the Blues, it will be able to count on the support of many French people and not only among the millions clinging to more or less distant transalpine roots. This was unimaginable a decade ago, when the embers of the 2006 World Cup final and the Zidane - Materrazzi affair were still burning.
“French supporters will have a dilemma before this match between two teams with which their country has had friction, however, believes François Lerose, of Calabrian origin.
But I feel goodwill towards the return of Italy, which did not play in the 2018 World Cup. There is less hatred.
"Giacomo supports his colleague and also speaks of a" benevolent gaze "on this side of the Alps:" The team is playing well and the group's cohesion is envied compared to that of France, which is more of an addition of individualities. , notes the specialist from FrSerieA.
The two attackers [Immobile and Insigne] have a sincere friendship, the whole stadium applauds when Sirigu [the second goalkeeper] enters against Wales… ”
Outsiders against Belgium
It now remains to be seen how the selection of Mancini will behave away from its stadium Olimpico where it shone in pool, after a success given in pain against Austria at Wembley.
“If the Italians had to stop, it would already be a big Euro and the road would be mapped out for the future,” says Benoît Cauet.
But the winner of this quarter may be that of the Euro.
»A great adventure that Italy knows little about.
Competitive in the World Cup, the homeland of Dante and Silvio Berlusconi has won only one European Championship so far, in 1968. At home and with only three other caps in the finals, a long way from there. current 24-team tournament.
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