“Nothing is impossible and we don’t want to go home”. This was the motto of Antonio Conte in the knowledge that Spain begin tomorrow’s encounter as favourites. The Italy manager, however, is convinced that his side can trouble the reigning European champions: “We’re not sacrificial lambs”, said Conte in the Stade de France press room in Saint-Denis, “Spain have to show on the pitch that they’re stronger. We’ll have to go above and beyond the call of duty and give absolutely everything. We need to look to do something extraordinary because ordinary isn’t good enough. The nature of life and of football is to see upsets in uneven matches and I’m convinced that these players are capable of doing it.”
It’s simplistic to see the match tomorrow as a contest between Spanish attack and Italian defence: “We have to look for a way of making Spain wary of our threat. When we’ve got the ball, we can cause anyone problems,” the coach said, “and when we’re attacking we have an organised set-up like we do in defence. We’ve great respect for Spain. They’re one of the world’s best teams and one of the favourites for the tournament. Having said that, we’ve worked, we’ve prepared, we know that it’s the end of the road for one of the teams and the performance on the pitch will be important because of this. We mustn’t have any regrets, we have to give everything. If the opposition are stronger on the day, we’ll be the first to congratulate them. Otherwise, we’ll have to win.”
Gigi Buffon accompanied Antonio Conte for the fourth time at a press conference. He’s the captain of a team which wants revenge for being knocked out of Euro 2008 and for the Euro 2012 final in Kiev four years later: “The only real defeat”, said the Italy stopper, “was the one at Euro 2012. We did get to the final tired and emotionally drained but Spain outclassed us in winning. In the other three matches, there have been two draws after 120 minutes and one draw after 90 minutes. That means that we succeeded in causing some strife for the best side in the world. In those years, Spain won everything and the only side to make them work for it was probably Italy.”
Buffon will meet Alvaro Morata tomorrow, who was a teammate at Juventus until just a few days ago: “Even he doesn’t know how good he is. He’s got that great player’s gift of playing well and scoring in important matches. He’s confirming that in this tournament. But Spain aren’t just Morata”. He had a message for those who wonder whether he’ll still be between the sticks for the Azzurri at the next World Cup: “When you play at this level, it’s not you who decides if you carry on playing or not but instead it’s your performances and the decisions of the coach. In my head, I still think I’ll continue my career for another two years and I’d like to do that at the highest level like I am now and if these high standards are good enough for the next head coach, I’ll be happy to be able to play a part for the Italy team.”
Source: figc.it