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

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