MILAN. In two days another national team will start playing its European Championships. The level of enthusiasm will nowhere near equal that of Roberto Mancini’s team. But the sense of competition is always the same. The name of the first opponent also helps: France, always a fierce rival of Italy at a sporting level.
The Europeans in question are those of eSports, with the players in front of the console instead of on the green lawn. To be precise, it is the eNazionale TImVisione Pes, which from Thursday to Saturday this week will be involved in the final phase of UEFA eEURO 2021. Italy is the reigning European champion after the success of a year ago when real football was in lockdown while eSports could continue their programming on a regular basis.
The national team of eSports was also supposed to fly to London to play the finals of the continental tournament, but given the evolution of the epidemiological situation, the last act of the European Championship will be played online. The blue team is made up of Nicola ‘nicaldan’ Lillo, Alfonso ‘AlonsoGrayFox’ Mereu, Carmine ‘Naples17x’ Liuzzi and Raffaele ‘Rafinter934’ Pagliuca. She is included in the group with France, Israel and Ukraine. It starts with France, already beaten last year in the semifinals: kick-off on Thursday 8 July at 2.30pm. Live streaming matches on TimVision.