Andrea Barzagli was there four years ago in Kiev to stand by helplessly as Spain won their second consecutive European Championship. That game started badly and ended worse for Italy against a better and fresher team as the Azzurri arrived at the final after a draining tournament. On Monday, the Juventus defender – one of the three 2006 World Cup winners in Conte’s squad along with De Rossi and Buffon – will have the chance to take some revenge against the nation that has well and truly become the Azzurri’s bogey team over the past few years: “We’re studying Spain,” he said at today’s press conference, “but at the end of the day, individual battles on the field are what count. We have to stay alert when they’re attacking, but the biggest error we could make would be to be too timid. Apart from the second half of their last game, Spain have shown that they are one of the tournament favourites because of the quality that they possess. Perhaps we’re nasty and dirty but we’ll give everything in order to hurt them.”
There was little doubt about Spain’s best player (“Iniesta is one of the best midfielders of all time and certainly the best of the last fifteen years”) whilst Spain’s principal attacking weapon comes in the form of Alvaro Morata who was Barzagli’s teammate at Juventus until just a few days ago and has singled out the bearded defender as one of the most difficult to play against. “But I’m not falling for it,” said Barzagli, “I don’t really like that sort of praise. I don’t have any friends during the game, I don’t even like saying hello before we walk out the tunnel. We know about Alvaro’s strengths but we have to pay attention to everyone, not just him. Perhaps he’s at an advantage from knowing us rather than vice versa.”
He agrees with Chiellini that being on a yellow card shouldn’t be a problem (“we joke about the fact that we’re the only team to have two ‘keepers on a yellow”) and Barzagli also showed that he remains very humble despite all the trophies he has won over the course of his career: “I don’t compare myself to players like Ramos, Pique, Hummels or Boateng. Individually, they’re all better than me. I’ve improved both technically and mentally, I pick people up better and, at 35, I still feel I can play like the others, even the 20-year-olds. When I started playing with great players in great teams, I started to win and to see that when you can keep winning, you want to improve. After my first Scudetto with Juve, I spent the summer thinking how we could win again the next season.”
There will be no Candreva against Spain: “We all know what he can do, he played really well in the first two games, but we’re a squad of 23 and there are the right replacements to ensure that we won’t miss him too much. We’ve a close-knit squad, it reminds me of 2006…”. Everyone hopes, of course, that this story can end like it did ten years ago: “We left under a cloud of general scepticism a bit like now; we weren’t one of the favourites then just like we’re not now. But I think that the Italy team has won a lot of friends thanks to what we’ve shown on the pitch: great heart, pride in the shirt and everyone taking responsibility. We’ve encouraged lots more people to wear the Italy shirt and I think that a lot of Italians will be glued to the telly for the match.”
Photo: figc.it