Italy coach: “Now the real tournament begins, but we will have to play well to get to the end”
ROME. Dedicated to all those «children who have suffered in this year and a half of pandemic». Roberto Mancini greets Rome, his most heartfelt victory is not the full score or the first place, but having given back a little joy and lightness to the fans of his Italy. Now another tournament begins, he says, and to those who remind him that he returns to Wembley where almost 30 years ago he wept on the lawn for the lost Champions League final.
“It’s nice to go back, but we want to go back for the final,” says the Italian coach, with applause at the Olimpico when he stopped a ball from the field with one of his heels. «At Wembley – he says at the press conference – we go to a fantastic stadium, from now on another tournament will begin. We will have to play well all the way and we hope to come back for the final ».
The satisfaction for the evening, meanwhile, is addressed to the Italy of the second lines which are confirmed as good choices for a national team. “It could not have been better than this,” he says hot, as soon as the game is over. «Doubt Verratti-Locatelli? Better to have them all available and suffer because someone good won’t play. This has happened from the beginning and the suffering will continue. If the kids continue like this, I’m happy. I don’t ask for anything else ».
At the end of the match, the Olimpico honored the Azzurri with the notes of ‘Notti Magiche’ of Italia ’90: “I was pleased – admitted Mancini – we went back a few years in an extraordinary moment: we were all younger , the World Cup in 1990 with all the fans here at the Olimpico was extraordinary and it was a shame not to win it ».
With today’s victory, the coach equals Vittorio Pozzo’s record, 30 consecutive useful games. But with realism, he knows that the numbers that matter are others. «I’m still far behind, he has won a lot ..» he says of the coach of the double world title.
Chiesa in turn warns the opponents: «It is right that this Italy dreams. Also because tonight’s game shows that even those who don’t play, when they enter, are decisive ». Among the returned, there is Verratti. «I have to thank Mancini who waited for me, I was afraid of reliving the nightmare of 2016 when I lost the European Championship: and instead I’m here».
Then he adds. “Now comes the most difficult phase, the one from inside or outside: but this national team has young people who have grown up in maturity, not just me and Jorginho with the international experience of the clubs.”
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