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Back in international competition five years after Euro 2016 and three and a half years after elimination in the 2018 World Cup play-off against Sweden, Italy is in full rebirth. The fruit of titanic work carried out by its coach Roberto Mancini. Quarter-finalist of the competition, he makes the most of his workforce and is not satisfied with his eleven. Indeed, Italy have a high quality bench and that helped them a lot in the round of 16. Mistreated by Austria, Squadra Azzura relied on the entries of Federico Chiesa and Matteo Pessina, both scorers, to make the difference and win 2-1 in extra time. An additional weapon for Italy of which Roberto Mancini is well aware.
“We deserved to bring back this victory, even if we take this goal at the end of the game. We had to take one. In the first half, we could have scored. In the second, we suffered physically, but in the end we won, and we deserved it. We won this match thanks to the players who came from the bench, entered with the right mentality, and they found a way to resolve this match. Federico and Pessina were very good, we knew it would be a difficult game. Such a difficult game can do us good. The matches can go badly, but we put the will “ explained the Italian coach after the meeting against Austria. Having already used 25 of his 26 players in the three group matches (only the third goalkeeper Alex Meret has not played), the transalpine technician trusts a large group.
Strong competition
This ability to bring healthy competition to the Italian selection, Roberto Mancini has cultivated it since his arrival on the bench from Italy on May 14, 2018. In three years, he has called 63 different players in the selection. Conversely, French coach Didier Deschamps, who has been in office for nine years, has used 89 different players with France. Two different strategies that bring their share of success. As for Roberto Mancini, the confidence placed in his replacements has been returned to him. Following the injury of Alessandro Florenzi, Giovanni Lorenzo replaced him at a moment’s notice by showing himself to be efficient. Same observation in central defense, where Francesco Acerbi has been reliable since the injury of Giorgio Chiellini. Manuel Locatelli started the competition before leaving his place to Marco Verratti when he returned from injury. This new replacement status did not weigh down the Sassuolo player, who performed well when he entered against Austria.
On the offensive side, three players stand out. At the forefront, Andrea Belotti brings a different profile from Ciro Immobile and can keep the ball more at the end of the game. If Domenico Berardi is preferred to him for his profile more complementary to his teammates of the Italian eleven, Federico Chiesa is a luxury joker whose qualities Roberto Mancini exploits without batting an eyelid. Coming off a great season at Juventus (15 goals and 11 assists in 46 matches), the former Fiorentina player started against Wales and returned in the other three matches. Showing himself decisive for his ability to sow discord, he is a solution to unbridle complicated end of matches. Finally, Matteo Pessina has already scored two goals in the tournament when he was not supposed to be there. Replacing Stefano Sensi forfeit, the Atalanta midfielder has already beaten the odds and brings real competition. The quality of this Nazionale is reflected in the density of its talents and Roberto Mancini has understood this well by exploiting it so far with wonder.
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