Home » Italy-Austria: Mancini decided the 5 penalty takers

Italy-Austria: Mancini decided the 5 penalty takers

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The blue coach has chosen. If you end up with that disk that historically has given us joys and sorrows, they will be the protagonists of the “lottery” … Find out who they are

Fabio Licari

We won a World Cup on penalties in 2006, but we lost another in 1994. We cried in Naples, Pasadena, Paris, Bordeaux. Bitter tears of fans and players. Nobody thought of seeing Franco Baresi cry one day on the shoulder of manager Antonello Valentini. That image from America has stopped time. Berlin has been a great reward, but the balance is still negative. Ten matches for Italy on penalties, seven defeats. The fewer blue challenges you solve from the spot, the better. And the problem is that at the European Championship, when we pass the group stage, there is always an appointment with penalties …

The account of history

Mancini’s choice, for tonight’s round of 16 against Austria, is made. If needed, Jorginho, Immobile, Acerbi, Berardi and Bonucci are ready. The top five. Against Germany, at Euro 2016, we shot nine, and it almost happened to Buffon too. The famous “lottery” will also be exciting, but it is as if history is presenting us with the extra bill of the legend, at Mexico 70, Italy-Germany 4-3. Without Rivera’s goal in the 111th minute, it would still have been a coin, as for the Italy-USSR semifinal at the 1968 European Championship. Penalties did not exist then.

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The most reliable of our shooters, to read the numbers, seems to be Jorginho for a change. The most reliable in all. In the cycle Mancini has shot, and achieved, five penalties out of five. Relentless even in clubs: the “professor”, as his teammates call him, is 17 out of 20 (85%). Immobile in blue has pulled and put one inside. 37 out of 45 in the league, with a remarkable average of 8 out of 10. Acerbi and Berardi never from the spot in blue, but the Sassuolo striker is at 29 out of 37 in the league (79%, almost like Immobile).

Leo and Donnarumma

Finally Bonucci: no penalty in Juve, but three in the national team. One scored, in the game. Two wrong, always after 120 ‘: against Spain in the Confederations Cup (2013) and against Germany in the last European championship, in the infinite (and losing) series. Insigne is another fine penalty taker: 18 out of 21 in the league, 2 out of 2 in the blue. It is difficult not to be the possible sixth. We naturally hope that neither a sixth nor the other five are needed. After all, Mancini’s Italy has scored 86 goals in 35 games, and only once in the last 26 has he failed to find the way to goal. On the other hand, he has only conceded one goal in the last 14 games. Also to protect oneself there is Donnarumma in the door. His balance sheet is not bad: out of 32 penalties he was thrown, he saved 8, another 3 went out and 2 on the post. It is not easy to score him from eleven meters.

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the denominator

There is a common denominator when we go to penalties: very little is scored in the 120 ‘. Four times 1-1, six times 0-0. At first, that of penalties even seemed like a curse. One four in four (defeats) from depression. The first was the final for third place at Euro 1980, Czechoslovakia-Italy 10-9, with Collovati’s final mistake. It was worth much less, however, than the next three: Argentina-Italy 5-4 (Italy 90, semi-final), Brazil-Italy 3-2 (Usa 94, final) and France-Italy 4-3 (France 98, quarter-finals). It still seems to hear the noise of the crossbar where Di Biagio’s shot slams, and to see Baggio’s ball in the sky.

We recover at Euro 2000, in the semifinals, with Toldo saving three penalties to the Dutch. Trezeguet will make us cry in the final with the golden goal. But in the meantime we passed, for the first time. And that something is changing is seen in Berlin, in the final against France. Trezeguet himself is wrong, while Grosso, Materazzi, De Rossi, Del Piero and Grosso no.

At the Euro, always

Since then, the “score” has returned to the red, including the 2013 Confederations Cup with Spain. We overtook England at Euro 2012, but lost to Spain (2008) and Germany (2016). When we overtake the groups at the European Championship, there is always a day from the spot. Budget: 3-7. European balance sheet: 2-3. Let’s do it first which is better.

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