Category Archives: Italian National Team

Happy Birthday Paolo Maldini an AC Milan and Italian Legend celebrating 53 years old!

AC Milan, Italian National Team

https://www.italiansoccerseriea.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Anna_Italia_bigger.jpgBy Anna Italia
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Italian Soccer Serie A

Happy Birthday beloved AC Milan Captain Paolo Maldini turning 53 years old on June 26, 2021. So many memories, and a joyful heart to celebrate with Maldini a living legend. Maldini also playing with the Italian team.  Tanti auguri !!!!!   Paolo Maldini was born on 26 June 1968 in Milan, Italy.

This is why Maldini is a legend
🏟 1,027 Games
⚽️ 40 Goals
🎯 43 Assists
7 🏆🇮🇹 Serie A Scudetto
5 🏆🇪🇺 Champions League
5 🏆 🇮🇹 Supercoppa italiana
4 🏆🇪🇺 UEFA Super Cup
2 🏆🌍Intercontinental Cup
1 🏆🇮🇹 Coppa Italia
1 🏆🌍 Club World Cup

✅  AC MILAN
Maldini played all 25 seasons in the Serie A with AC Milan retiring at the age of 41 in 2009. Maldini won 25 trophies with Milan: the European Cup/UEFA Champions League five times, seven Serie A titles, one Coppa Italia, five Supercoppa Italiana titles, four European/UEFA Super Cups, two Intercontinental Cups and one FIFA Club World Cup. Maldini won the Best Defender trophy at the UEFA Club Football Awards at the age of 39, as well as the Serie A Defender of the Year Award in 2004. The Club honoring Maldini retiring after the 2008–09 season his number 3 shirt.

✅  Italian National team
Paolo Maldini made his debut for Italy in 1988, playing for 14 years before retiring in 2002 with 7 goals and 126 caps, an appearance record at the time (surpassed by Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluigi Buffon). Maldini captained Italy for eight years and held the record for appearances as Italy’s captain (74) overtaken by Cannavaro and Buffon.

UEFA Euro 2020: Italy vs Austria, Match Officials, Referee Anthony Taylor, Saturday 26 June 2021

Italian National Team, UEFA EURO 2020

https://www.italiansoccerseriea.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Anna_Italia_bigger.jpgBy Anna Italia
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Italian Soccer Serie A

   Italy – Austria

✅  Here are the UEFA Euro 2020 Round of 16 Match Officials for Italy vs Austria on Saturday 26 June 2021 at the Wembley Stadium in London, England, UK at 21:00.

Referee: Anthony Taylor (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Gary Beswick (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Nunn (ENG)
Fourth Official: Sandro Schärer (SUI)
Reserve AR: Stephane De Almeida (SUI)
VAR: Stuart Attwell (ENG)
AVAR 1: Christopher Kavanagh (ENG)
AVAR 2: Lee Betts (ENG)
AVAR 3: Pol van Boekel (NED)
Referee Observer: Hugh Dallas (SCO)

Photo via @FARefereeing

UEFA EURO 2020 Tickets (2021)
Sports, Football, Soccer, UEFA EURO 2020
Football Tickets

Front Pages, La Gazzetta dello Sport, Corriere dello Sport, and Tutto Sport, Saturday 26 June 2021

ACF Fiorentina, Copa America, Inter Milan, Italian National Team, Juventus, Lazio, SSC Napoli, UEFA EURO 2020

https://www.italiansoccerseriea.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Anna_Italia_bigger.jpgBy Anna Italia
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Italian Soccer Serie A

Good morning, my friends! Here are the front pages from the Italian newspapers La Gazzetta dello Sport, Corriere dello Sport, and Tutto Sport, Saturday 26 June 2021.

La Gazzetta dello Sport, Front Page, Saturday 26 June 2021.

Corriere dello Sport, Front Page, Saturday 26 June 2021.


Photo: twitter.com/ItalianSerieA

Tutto Sport, Front Page, Saturday 26 June 2021.


Photo: twitter.com/ItalianSerieA

Italy Head Coach Roberto Mancini, “Austria are an excellent team, we can’t afford any mistakes.”

General Soccer News, Italian National Team, UEFA EURO 2020

https://www.italiansoccerseriea.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Anna_Italia_bigger.jpgBy Anna Italia
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Italian Soccer Serie A

 

Italy – Austria
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Italy Head Coach Roberto Mancini during the press conference on Friday 25 June 2021 at Wembley ahead of the UEFA Round of 16 game against Austria on Saturday 26.  The message is clear.   “Austria are an excellent team.  They are very aggressive and have technically and physically good players. It’s not easy to face them, they make you play badly because they press well.”

The mission for the Italian team is to qualify for the quarterfinals of the European Championship  to redeem their failure of not qualifying for the last World Cup.   Italy will play at Wembley, where 22,000 spectators are expected (25% of the capacity) of which about 1,200 are Italians residing in England, as reported by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).

Mancini with 30 unbeaten matches (25 wins and five draws)  has the chance to beat Vittorio Pozzo’s record tomorrow.   Italy can equal another record, that of the national team led by Ferruccio Valcareggi, who from 1972 to 1974 managed to keep a clean sheet in twelve consecutive matches.

Mancini is not nervous about records, but saying: “We are calm.  We can count on good players and whoever takes to the pitch will do what we’ve done up until now”.

Wembley is linked to one of the most painful memories of Mancini’s career as a footballer, when on 20 May 1992 his Sampdoria was defeated by Barcelona in a European Cup final that was decided by Ronald Koeman in extra time: “It was one of the most beautiful stadiums in the world then and it is now. It is a temple of football; you have to respect it and play well. We would like to come back, but to do that we have to win the next two games”.

Leonardo Bonucci statement is about not underestimating Austria: “Tomorrow we play a very important match against a team that are difficult to face. But there’s a good atmosphere inside the dressing room, we know that our most fundamental element is the group. We have maximum respect for Austria: They have quality, freshness, and the physical abilities to play a great game. We don’t feel superior to anyone, we are confident that we are on an important path and the results show it, but we know that if we drop our attention for a moment we become a normal national team”.

Leonardo Bonucci giving a sign of “let’s win” attitude to his teammates

Di Lorenzo and the match against Austria: “Fearful of the opponents? No… We have enthusiasm, not presumptions”

Italian National Team, SSC Napoli, UEFA EURO 2020

The Azzurri full-back spoke at a press conference ahead of the Round of 16 tie: “We’re training and preparing as best we can for this game”

Thursday, June 24, 2021 via figc.it

 

Di Lorenzo and the match against Austria:

It was written years ago that the colour blue would be part of his destiny when he wore it at Empoli in 2017. Then with the move to Napoli came another blue jersey, and now another that unites the hopes of a country, that of the national team.

Giovanni Di Lorenzo excitedly confirmed at a press conference that “blue is a colour that has in fact distinguished me in recent years. And it is no coincidence that my daughter is called ‘Azzurra’”.

The national team full-back’s story is full of sacrifices – “which have brought me this far, to be part of this group” – and of desire not to give up, even when his professional footballing career seemed to have almost reached a point of no return: “Practically everything in my life changed in the space of five years. I found myself without a team, but I was good at not giving up: now I’m enjoying this fantastic experience”.

While there is an entire nation to support the Azzurri, there is an entire town cheering on the on-pitch performances of one of its most famous citizens: Ghivizzano, a small village in the province of Lucca where the number two Azzurro jersey of Giovanni Di Lorenzo is projected onto the towers of the town: “They have set up the big screen in the square, they are all excited about this event… I have a special relationship with my brother Diego, who is four years older than me: We often call and confide in each other. In the most difficult moments of my career, there have been people who have allowed me to overcome that difficulty with their closeness. And my brother is one of them”.

Italy’s next match is against Austria, in the first knockout stage match that the Azzurri will face in this tournament: “They are a strong team, they play at a really high tempo, and are tough to face. But we’re training and preparing as best we can for this game. Alaba? An exceptional player, but all Austrian footballers are to be held in high regard.

Fearful about this match? The atmosphere here is excellent, our group is fantastic and there is the right mix of tension and concentration. We must have the same enthusiasm that we have had in the last few games, without falling into presumptions”.