In three months the technician did an enormous job. He has restored enthusiasm and imposed precise rules: now we can continue with serenity
Whoever wants to triumph in Germany in 2024 will also have to contend with the European Champions. We will also be there to defend the title won in 2021. We get there at the end of a difficult, tough, tense match against a generous and tough Ukraine: we had two results out of three, but we played the match to win it for at least 70 minutes, then in the end we lowered the center of gravity, closed the spaces and we have to say thanks to an oversight by the referee and VAR who denied Ukraine a penalty in the 93rd minute. Cristante doesn’t look for Mudryk, but the impact is there. If he hadn’t awarded us a penalty like that we would have talked about it for a long time. Let’s get the little gift, avoid the play-offs and get ready to experience a month of June (and hopefully July…) tinged with blue.
of struggle and government
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We knew it wouldn’t be a walk in the park here in Leverkusen, even though we were convinced we could win, given the technical superiority. However, the draw came at the end of a “serious” match, of struggle and government. We started slowly, we took control of the game midway through the first half, we had the opportunities to pass. In the second half we held the field, created less, we defended, we fought, we suffered. There was a bit of everything in a race that certainly couldn’t be defined as spectacular or even epic, but it was very intense. The stakes were very high. So let’s take the good that was there and be satisfied. We wanted at least one point, we got it.
improve further
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This is Italy today, we are not clearly superior to many other national teams and we are certainly inferior to some. But we are becoming a team. We still have to improve and grow a lot to be protagonists at the European Championship, but now we can plan the next few months with serenity. We breathe a sigh of relief: the goal has been reached. That mattered. Let’s not forget the chaos of mid-August, Mancini’s escape, the penalizing ranking, the hunt for the right coach in just a few days, Spalletti taking over and having to deal with many things. And he did his best. If we had ended up in the play-offs and even if we had not qualified, he would have jumped the bench with his top management.
thanks Luciano
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This qualification now allows us to plan and focus on the key points of a team that has two standard-bearers in Barella and Chiesa (yesterday too they were the best on the pitch, as with Macedonia), in Dimarco and Di Lorenzo two solid full-backs , in Bastoni an excellent central defender, in Raspadori a very talented player, in Donnarumma a top goalkeeper. We have mentioned them in no particular order. We must count on the growth of Locatelli, Zaniolo, Scamacca, Kean and Frattesi, on the stability of Jorginho and Acerbi… And so on the others. But above all we count on Luciano Spalletti, the only true champion we have. We owe him a heartfelt thank you: taking Italy in that historic moment was an honor, but also a burden. In three months he did an enormous job. He picked up the flag that had fallen to the ground and brought it back to his heart, he immediately showed firm leadership, clear ideas, made choices, imposed rules, restored enthusiasm, showed himself to be a leader, reassured the environment. He was asked: “Luciano, take us to the European Championships”. He did it.
mission accomplished
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Rewinding the tape: so-so debut in Macedonia. He played and won well at home with Macedonia, Ukraine and Malta. He was soundly beaten in England. Chest out here in the last one in Leverkusen. Eleven points in six games: four were needed in the last two. He took them. This is not the time to split hairs with technical-tactical analyses. For Italy not to qualify would have been an unprecedented disaster after having already missed the World Cup. Now Luciano, having absorbed his first great satisfaction, will get back to work more than before. He knows that the difficult part comes now: Italy must grow. In Germany there will be much more formidable opponents than those – excluding England – faced in our group. It will take a lot of everything. But we will be there too. As European champions.
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