Daniele De Rossi’s flinty eyes and steely gaze could be the living embodiment of an Italy side that Antonio Conte has moulded in his own image. The Roma midfielder is one of the veterans in this Azzurri squad with a World Cup winner’s medal from 2006 and five previous major tournament finals appearances to his name (2006, 2010, 2014 World Cups; Euro 2008 and 2012) as well as two appearances in the Confederations Cup (South Africa 2009 and Brazil 2013). He’s also the leading scorer in Conte’s squad with 18 international goals, one fewer than Bettega and Gilardino and only two away from a certain Paolo Rossi: “I don’t feel like a star,” he said at today’s press conference, “I’m a good player but stars are people like Messi, Hazard, Ibrahimovic; players whom the crowd loves. Trophies also speak for a star; Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo score 50 goals a season and it’s right that they get the most acclaim”. Jokingly, he added, “Sometimes they man-mark me like Iniesta, maybe they’ve mistaken me for someone else. I try to play my own game; I feel that I’m a decent defender when we have to defend and a decent attacker when we can attack.”
Although De Rossi is fairly modest when talking about himself, he’s full of praise when discussing his teammates and his manager: “Our defence is the best in the world. They’re very regimented and they work together better than any other defence in world football at the moment. They’re charismatic individuals and their mentality is inspirational for the rest of the group. When it comes to the boss, I don’t want to come across as a sycophant but he gives us balance and organisation which are more important on the pitch than having a one-on-one specialist or someone who can score with a bicycle kick. It’s an advantage we hold over the other teams here.”
Work always pays and it’s no coincidence that Italy are among the sides who have run the furthest at these championships: “We’re harvesting the fruits of our labour; in the second half we always run a lot and we stay aggressive and resilient. We might not have breathtaking individual talent but we have qualities that other big teams don’t have, like the compact nature of our squad and the quality of our substitutes. To not have been in the spotlight straightaway might have helped us but we’ve shown our hand now and there’s more attention on our matches rather than on other teams’.”
After starting against Belgium and Sweden, De Rossi could be on the bench on Wednesday against the Republic of Ireland: “It’s wrong to say it’s a pointless fixture,” he said, “It’s important to finish the group with nine points and it’s right that those who haven’t played as much so far get their chance. Ireland are a team with strong temperament and character. At Euro 2012, we played them when they were in last place in the group with no points. They threw everything at us and their fans sang for 90 minutes as if it were a final. We can’t let ourselves be underprepared and we don’t want to make any stupid mistakes or let them have any gifts”.
Slightly before leaving for the tournament, De Rossi admitted that he had been worried about getting on the plane for France: “But you were writing about what I was doing on the pitch,” he said to the assembled journalists, “I put in some good performances with Roma as well but I overstretched myself twice and missed a lot of games through injury, the team was winning without me and there was no reason to change things.”
In two days’ time, De Rossi will meet one of his childhood heroes, Roy Keane, in Lille. Keane was the reason why De Rossi chose the number 16 shirt and is currently assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland under Martin O’Neill: “He was one of those players who made intensity and self-sacrifice his principal weapons; it’s because of this that he might fall in love with a team like us even though other experts might prefer Spain’s style of football. In football, you have to win to be remembered. If Leicester had lost the title with a couple of games to go, we would have quickly forgotten about them.”
Source: figc.it