Spain are not a side who evoke good memories for Giorgio Chiellini who was in the team that lost to the Furia Roja on penalties in a quarter-final at the 2008 European Championship. He was also on the pitch four years at the final in Kiev when he was forced off injured after 21 minutes with Spain already a goal up and he saw his dreams of lifting the trophy fade soon after. “Spain have been something of a bogey team for us since 2008,” said Chiellini at his press conference. “That game saw them start their winning cycle. Apart from the final in Kiev, they have always been close games. There was Vienna 2008 and Fortaleza in the Confederations Cup, twice we have lost on penalties when we didn’t deserve to. I expect it to be a close match on Monday, one in which small details can make a difference. There is mutual respect, it will be a great game and it’s a shame that it’s so soon at the round of 16 stage. I haven’t seen a crisis with this Spain team, they are more alive than they were at the World Cup and they have rediscovered their desire to fight and win.”
The road to the final is uphill thanks to an unprecedentedly unbalanced draw which has placed all of most decorated countries on the same side. However, Chiellini is not looking for excuses: “There’s a lot of randomness in what has happened, we didn’t expect to win the group and then prefer that we’d have finished elsewhere. Perhaps there could have been more equality for the quarter-final draw where some groups have been penalised. It will be nice to see so many new countries playing in such important matches and it’s likely that there could be a surprise like Greece in 2004 or Denmark in 1992.”
As a key member of a defence which De Rossi called the “strongest in the world” a few days ago, Chiellini is also third in the Azzurri appearance table with 86 caps and he is the second top scorer behind striker Graziano Pellè in Conte’s side. “The best defence in the world is the one that wins,” continued Chiellini. It’s difficult, we all know it but we can’t think about an eventual victory. Our strength must be humility and the work we do day by day. This is what saw us beat Belgium and Sweden. Everyone is now saying that they expect things from us but in reality nobody did before.” With a smile on his face, he has also addressed the members of the press who had showed less impartiality in their judgments. “We were not that bad before, we didn’t become amazing after Sweden and we didn’t go back to being terrible after Ireland. Everyone who played gave their all, we made some errors and paid for them. But we can’t go after the so-called reserves, I am convinced that these players will be important and make a difference at this tournament.”
Having said that playing on a yellow is no problem (“If we have to receive a yellow card then we will, it’s a knockout game and we can’t think about bookings”), the match against Spain also provides a meeting with Morata. “Alvaro is a special guy, I’m sorry to only see him as a former teammate. I am happy for him because he deserves to play centre-forward for Spain and Real Madrid, I would be sad if he’s just been used as a bargaining chip to make money. He has incredible ability and he can still improve further, he grew a lot on a tactical and personal level during these last two years in Turin and we can say we helped him to develop every day. I hope to get the better of him on Monday, but I wish him all the best for the rest of his career.”
Physical conditioning could make a difference against one of the most technical sides in the world. “We hope that resting a lot of players in the last game could give us an advantage. It’s crucial to keep the pressing and intensity up for a team like ours. We have been working intensely since Wednesday 18th May and we hope to remain in this condition up until Sunday 10th July.” His last words were dedicated to the journalists who are used to only seeing the first 15 minutes of training. “We are working very hard and I can assure you that the real training starts after 15 minutes.”
Photo: figc.it