“Italy in its pure state”. The title chosen by Marca to frame the piece on the Azzurri’s victory against Albania last night perfectly captures the Spanish feeling towards us while awaiting Thursday’s match in Gelsenkirchen, yet another clash in a European Championship, the fifth in a row. “Italy avoided the surprise of Albania, who took the lead after 23 seconds. Spalletti’s men dropped during the match. Rey Manaj could have equalized in the 90th minute.
SPARAGNINA
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And then the start of Jaime Rincon’s piece: “The Italy of all time, that of character in adverse situations and that of bravado in moments of doubt. An effective, practical, rational and calculating Italy.” And again: “In some moments we saw that Italy which has nothing left but fights for everything, a factor which sometimes manages to transform into a title”. On Marca they recall how Spalletti extended his run without defeat to 7, and issue a warning: “Italy resolved its debut with old signs of identity. It’s not scary, but let’s not fool anyone: they won’t make life easy for Spain.”
DIFFERENT SCORE
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In Pais they point out that “Italy has never speculated on the minimum advantage: it is not part of Spalletti’s score to administer advantages with the rigor of the old ‘football’ (in Italian, ed.). Jorginho and Barella marked the tempo and possession of the ball against an Albania team that lost itself in individual adventures. Having said that, the match could have ended with as much of a surprise as the one it started with,” in reference to Manaj’s chance in the 90th minute.
DE LA FUENTE NOTIFIED
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“Barella arrives in time” is the title chosen by As. “Italy gets on the shoulders of the Inter player and comes back from the fastest goal in the history of the European Championships”. The news: “Italy did its duty by beating Albania to thus eliminate the most significant part of those doubts with which it presented itself at the European Championships by presenting its candidacy as defending champion. De la Fuente is warned.” In short, they don’t trust Spain: Italy is held in high regard and no one has the intention of underestimating their second opponent in the tournament. After all, our neighbors know us all too well.
