Locatelli after Italy-Northern Ireland: “Gattuso asked us…”

“Gattuso asked us at half-time: did you think it was easy?”. There perhaps something clicked in the heads of the Italy players, who raised the level of determination and courage by shaking off the dust of bad thoughts. It is Manuel Locatelli who reveals the background which was one of the psychological keys to the victory over Northern Ireland: “We were a bit frenetic but it wasn’t easy to play with this enormous responsibility on us. We know what the World Cup represents for the people and especially for the children. But we haven’t taken the weight off ourselves yet, we haven’t done anything because on Tuesday there is a final to win”. Without fear: “We loosened up as the minutes passed, we understood that we needed more resourcefulness to deserve qualification. We are all united with our leader Gattuso to reach the goal. We have suffered in the past, we want to erase the bad moments.” Debutant Marco Palestra also smiles: “Making my debut for the national team, even in the Atalanta stadium, was truly a unique emotion.”