Photo:  figc.it

Mancini saying: “Pozzo’s legacy is that he won two World Cups, the rest isn’t as important. The boys did very well, but before anything else I’d like to thank the fans at the Olimpico. There were so many of them and they really supported us, even in the first half when we weren’t at our best, perhaps we were a bit tense. We hope that this is only a sign of what’s to come in June, when there might be even more fans to cheer us on.”

FIGC President Gabriele Gravina  congratulated Mancini and the players on the pitch after the game: “Tonight was a dream come true. Thanks to Mancini, to the whole team both on and off the pitch, as well as all the FIGC staff who made such a big achievement possible in the first place. There have been a lot of firsts in the past three days: our record qualification with three games to spare; the whole squad visiting the Bambino Gesù hospital; and a record crowd at the Stadio Olimpico. They’ve been three days full of great emotions and we won’t forget them any time soon.”

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Mancini also referred to the young patients of the “Bambino Gesù” paediatric hospital. In recent days the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has been working alongside the hospital in Rome, with a series of initiatives aimed at supporting the creation of an Institute for Tumours and Transplantation. Mancini and the Azzurri visited the children in hospital on Thursday, on what was a moving and emotional day: “We’re dedicating this victory to them,” said the Coach, before moving on to explain the difficulties faced with Greece’s defence: “We will often find ourselves up against teams who sit and wait for us. We were too rushed in the first half, instead of waiting and looking for the right moment. We were much better technically in the second half, we found the goals and created other chances too.”

Photo:figc.it

Photo:  figc.it

Federico Bernardeschi:    “For me it was an important goal, just like all my others, what was really important was winning and securing qualification. We’re on the right path, we were patient tonight. We did very well at moving the ball and finding the goals.  Tonight was very emotional, it was spectacular. We’d like to thank the fans and let them know that we felt their support.”

#Azzurri 🇮🇹

🇮🇹 #ItalyGreece 🇬🇷 2️⃣-0️⃣ as experienced through the #VivoAzzurro Cam 🎥

From the team's arrival at the stadium through to the celebrations after #Euro2020 🇪🇺 qualification had been secured: exclusive footage from a special evening in #Rome.pic.twitter.com/weQ5d0YURQ

— Italy (@azzurri) October 14, 2019

#EuropeanQualifiers🇪🇺
🗣 #Mancini: “Thank you to the fans, we’re dedicating this win to the children of the Bambino Gesù hospital”

The article ➡️ https://t.co/sti8JRSXAs#Gravina: “A dream come true, thanks to all involved”#VivoAzzurro 🇮🇹#ItalyGreece🇬🇷 #ITAGRE pic.twitter.com/rPuHipGWLR

— Italy (@azzurri) October 12, 2019

“See you soon Rome.” The Azzurri came out triumphant tonight with a 2-0 win over Greece in front of 56,000 fans, in what was their seventh consecutive victory in qualifying, and the one which secures them qualification for EURO 2020. The European competition begins on 12 June in Rome, with the capital set to welcome the Azzurri back for more magical nights like the one of Italia ’90. There were full-time celebrations at the Olimpico, which erupted at Jorginho’s converted penalty and Italy’s second from Federico Bernardeschi after what was a disappointing first half. On the day when Kenyan athlete Kipchoge broke the record for a marathon under two hours, Roberto Mancini’s Azzurri set their own record, securing qualification with three games to spare for the first time. There’s certainly lots to look forward to in June.

MATCH REPORT. Mancini’s Italy lined up with their usual 4-3-3 for the fixture: Donnarumma in goal, Bonucci and Acerbi at centre-back with D’Ambrosio and Spinazzola in the full-back positions; the Roma man pushing on in possession to form a 3-3-4 formation. The midfield revolved around the Verratti-Jorginho duo, with Inter man Barella further forward but just in behind the attacking trident of Insigne, Chiesa and Ciro Immobile, the latter making his first appearance at the Olimpico in an Azzurri shirt. Greece were led by Dutch coach John van’t Ship, who played for Genoa between 1992 and ’96 and links back to the national team that came out as surprise champions of Europe 15 years ago. Greece’s was a side deprived of any star names tonight, second bottom of the group with no chance of qualification. They lined up in a 4-3-1-2 formation with Bakasetas as the attacking midfielder and a front two from PAOK andTolosa in Limnios and Koulouris, neither having ever scored for their national team.

The Olimpico was a sight to behold with thousands of Italian flags waving in the stands of a stadium packed with fans to cheer the Azzurri home, who played tonight in their green kit. Italy mainly threatened down the right with Chiesa looking lively in the opening exchanges, but the first chance fell to Greece as Donnarumma was forced into a save by Limnios in the 12th minute. Van’t Schip’s side defended as a compact unit and Italy tried to find space down the wings, but the only real moments of promise came from Insigne’s shot over the crossbar and Barella’s effort from outside the area which was deflected out for a corner. The 56,000 fans made their presence well-known, with chants of “ola” and “po-popopo-popo-po” from the 2006 World Cup. Italy made a change in the 39th minute as Chiesa was forced off due to a muscle injury and Bernadeschi came on to take his place.

Italy came out for the second half in hot pursuit of the goal which might secure them qualification, pushing further up the pitch and often finding themselves with ten men all in the opposition half. Insigne came close again, but he fired his shot over from a tight angle, and soon after it was Immobile whose header called Paschalakis into action. Italy then got away with one in the 60th minute: Verratti was robbed of the ball on the halfway line, Greece broke through Limnios and his cross into the middle was then smashed into the side-netting by Koulouris – a real let off for the Azzurri. However, Verratti then made up for this just two minutes later, playing in Insigne in the box whose shot ricocheted off the hand of Bouchalakis. The Russian referee Karasev pointed to the spot and it was Jorginho who stepped up, sending the keeper the wrong way and netting his third goal for the Azzurri, all scored from the spot. This was the goal that opened the door to qualification. Insigne then had yet another great chance as his shot whistled past the post, but then Greece threatened again, with Bakasetas missing his chance to make it 1-1. Federico Bernardeschi then killed off any hope of a Greek comeback, scoring Italy’s second in the 77th minute with a left-footed strike from outside of the box for what was also his third goal for the Azzurri. Once again Insigne popped up with a chance to make it three, but Paschalakis did well to push his first-time effort round the post for a corner. Belotti came onto the pitch for the closing stages along with youngster Nicolò Zaniolo. However, there was no more action to come, and the referee blew with the final score at 2-0, sending the Italian players running hand in hand over to the fans to celebrate this achievement all together.

ITALY 2-0 GREECE (0-0 HT)
Goals: 63’ pen. Jorginho (I), 78’ Bernardeschi (I)

ITALY: Donnarumma; D’Ambrosio, Acerbi, Bonucci, Spinazzola; Verratti, Jorginho, Barella (87’ Zaniolo); Chiesa (39’ Bernardeschi), Insigne, Immobile (79’ Belotti). Substitutes: Sirigu, Meret, Biraghi, Cristante, Izzo, Grifo, Romagnoli, El Shaarawy. Coach: Roberto Mancini.

GREECE: Paschalakis; Bakakis, Chatzidiakos, Siovas, Stafylidis; Bouchalakis (76’ Giannoulis), Kourbelis, Zeca; Bakasetas (80’ Mantalos); Limnios, Koulouris (67’ Donis). Substitutes: Vlachodimos, Dioudis, Lampropoulos, Siopis, Fetfazidis, Galanopoulos, Pavlidis, Vrousai, Koutris. Coach: John van’t Schip.

Referee: Sergei Karasev (RUS). Assistants: Igor Demeshko (RUS) and Maksim Gavrilin (RUS). Fourth official: Vitaliy Meshkov (RUS).

Notes: attendance 56,274. Bookings for Chatzidiakos (G), Koulouris (G) and Bouchalakis (G).

National Team schedule (all times in CEST)
Sunday 13 October
11:30 – Training (behind closed doors)

Monday 14 October
10:30 – Chartered flight from Rome to St. Gallen (Switzerland)
18:00 – Press conference
18:30 – Training at the Rheinpark Stadion – Vaduz

Tuesday 15 October
20:45 – Liechtenstein vs. Italy at the Rheinpark Stadion – Vaduz. Following the match, a meeting with the press and subsequent journey back to the hotel

Wednesday 16 October
10:00 – Chartered flight from St.Gallen to Milan Malpensa (11:10) and then journey to Rome (13:00)

Source:   figc.it

Photo:  figc.it

Here is the situation.  Italy  are top of Group J with six wins reaching 18 points  (a record for Italy at the start of European Championship qualifying) and a win tomorrow will secure their place at next year’s tournament.  Mathematically speaking, the victory  will seal the qualification.

European Qualifiers Group J Standing after Matchday 6

Photo: uefa.com

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This is an objective that the Head Coach has been working on for many months. “If I’m being honest, when I started out I didn’t think about what could happen over the first 15 months. I had other thoughts: it was important to get to know the players better, I was focused on integrating them. We’ve never had difficulties, not even in the two matches we lost against France and Portugal. As early as the Nations League we played a different kind of football, making progress step by step. The credit goes to the lads, they’ve managed to find the right feeling and have been excellent.”

Regarding the lineup for Greece, Mancini  has one doubt on whether to start with Juventus midfielder Federico Bernardeschi or Inter midfielder Nicolò Barella Barella.

Mancini also  spoke about Kean, who was sent off during the Under-21 National Team’s match against Ireland yesterday: “He always seems to be involved in these situations. I think he was a little bit unlucky, but he has to pay more attention.”

 Photo:  figc.it

Leonardo Bonucci, also present in the press conference, promised a historic evening: “The time we spent at the Bambino Gesù hospital made us really emotional. Children are life’s smile, they provide strength and hope. Yesterday, I saw children in difficult conditions but I also saw smiles. They set an example for all of us. Tomorrow evening, we need to win for them, we want to provide Italy with a historic evening.”

On the topic of Italy qualification with three matchdays in advance, Bonucci added:  “Achieving an objective so far in advance would be emotional. It hasn’t ever happened before, which means that we’re doing a great job. If we do it, it’ll be with a great crowd behind us. We expect them to be at their best. It’ll be fantastic at the Olimpico and we have a duty to make it a historic night.”

👉 Italy Squad – Called Up Players

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Milan), Pierluigi Gollini (Atalanta), Alex Meret (Napoli), Salvatore Sirigu (Torino);
Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio), Cristiano Biraghi (Inter), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Danilo D’Ambrosio (Inter), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Armando Izzo (Torino), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Alessio Romagnoli (Milan), Leonardo Spinazzola (Roma);
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Frello Filho Jorge Luiz Jorginho (Chelsea), Sandro Tonali (Brescia), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint Germain). Nicolò Zaniolo (Roma);
Forwards: Andrea Belotti (Torino), Federico Chiesa (Fiorentina), Stephan El Shaarawy (Shangai Shenhua), Vincenzo Grifo (Friburgo), Ciro Immobile (Lazio), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli).

Staff – Head Coach: Roberto Mancini; Team Manager: Gabriele Oriali; Assistant Coach: Alberico Evani, Attilio Lombardo, Giulio Nuciari, Fausto Salsano; Fitness Coach: Claudio Donatelli and Andrea Scanavino; Goalkeeping Coach: Massimo Battara; Match Analyst: Antonio Gagliardi and Simone Contran; Doctors: Andrea Ferretti  and Carmine Costabile; Physiotherapists: Maurizio Fagorzi, Emanuele Randelli, Fabrizio Scalzi, Luca Lascialfari, Fabio Sannino; Osteopata: Walter Martinelli; Nutritionist: Matteo Pincella; Secretary: Emiliano Cozzi; Press office director: Paolo Corbi.

👉 Italy National Team schedule (all times CEST)

Monday 7 October

Friday 11 October
17:00 – Press conference
17:30 – Training at the Stadio Olimpico

Saturday 12 October
20:45 – Italia vs. Grecia at the Stadio Olimpico. Following the match, a meeting with the press and subsequent journey back to the hotel

Sunday 13 October
11:30 – Training (behind closed doors)

Monday 14 October
10:30 – Chartered flight from Rome to St. Gallen (Switzerland)
18:00 – Press conference
18:30 – Training at the Rheinpark Stadion – Vaduz

Tuesday 15 October
20:45 – Liechtenstein vs. Italy at the Rheinpark Stadion – Vaduz. Following the match, a meeting with the press and subsequent journey back to the hotel

Wednesday 16 October
10:00 – Chartered flight from St.Gallen to Milan Malpensa (11:10) and then journey to Rome (13:00)