The most convincing team of the finals so far awaits Austria in the round of 16 in London on Saturday: Italy. The “Gazzetta dello Sport” emphasized the current strength of the Squadra Azzurra, which had flown through Group A with three zero victories, with a photo montage: The picture shows the Azzurri on a road roller, which is making its way.
On the front end is the number 30 – it stands for the number of international matches that Roberto Mancini’s protégés have played without defeat. Since September 10, 2018 (0: 1 in Portugal) or 1016 long days, the Italians have been unbeaten, for 1055 minutes without conceding a goal.
Eleven wins en suite and 33-0 goals are recorded. If the rushing in the leaf forest has its way, the success story continues against Austria. “Azzurri of records. Wales is also knocked out – Mancini is the star,” wrote the “Gazzetta dello Sport”, referring to the extraordinarily good working atmosphere. Mancini’s gesture to substitute goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu in the 89th minute for the 1-0 win against Wales on Sunday made the hearts of the Tifosi beat faster. Even critical voices from abroad do not change that. Individual commentators saw disrespect for the Welsh in this exchange process.
“A fairy tale”
For the Italians, all of the squad players except for the third goalie (Alex Meret) were used in the first three matches. Something like that welds together even more. Anyone can become part of a great story, even if the road to the second European championship (after 1968) is a long one. The Squadra still has to jump four hurdles, the first is Austria on Saturday. For the “Corriere dello Sport” the team is already “a fairy tale”. Not only because for the fourth time after 1978 (World Cup), 1990 (World Cup) and 2000 (EM) they conjured up a flawless group stage on the field.
It’s also the kind of football that inspires. The Azzurri are characterized by great passion, running intensity, strong switching game, intelligence and inventiveness in standard situations. Everyone knows exactly what to do.
Mancini gave the team a fine handwriting. The “architect” still tries to keep the ball flat. He rejects comparisons with the glorious 1930s (two world championship titles): “Vittorio Pozzo (the team boss at the time, note) has won important trophies, so we are still far behind this level,” said Mancini. Can Austria slow down the run of success?
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