This applies to the passage of the round, as in the elimination rounds of the 2012 European Championships, when Azzurra then reached the final, with Prandelli at the helm, only to then be beaten by Iniesta, Xavi, David Silva, Fernando Torres.
It is worth understanding if there is still a “Church in the center of the village”, as in 2021, when Mancini then brought the cup to Rome, snatching it from the English masters at Wembley.
Spain-Italy, in the order decided by UEFA, is always worth something, it will also happen this evening in Gelsenkirchen, in the Schalke stadium: it is the comparison between two schools, even if lately we only use the bolt to close the front door and a a bit of tiki taka over the 90 minutes we want to dance it too.
Coach Luciano Spalletti explained it, because «if a play doesn’t come to you straight away, you can always insist, not back down immediately», just to quote one of the lessons that came after Italy-Albania 2-1, with the three points in bag and some regrets in the head for not having entered the goal of the former Lazio player Strakosha a couple more times.
The problem in terms of goal difference was solved by the same Aquila dear to Scanderberg. After yesterday’s draw we know that Albania and Croatia will remain behind Italy and Spain even after the second day of Group B, which even a small point could satisfy the Azzurri and Furie Rosse this evening.
Which could thus postpone the decision on the primacy of the qualifying group to the last day. This is not a trivial detail: whoever finishes in the lead will take one of the best third places, the second the “equal rank” of Group A, the one that Germany is about to make its own, presumably Switzerland.
All calculations that our coach will not make. The concreteness of the “farmer” Spalletti, who loves to return to his vineyards in Chianti after every Sunday of football, after every blue break now, tells us that he will seek the ideal tactical balance to be able to harm Spain and therefore plan a virtuous future in this tournament.
Two pawns under the lens: Pellegrini and Frattesi. It is possible that one of the two could end up on the bench this evening, perhaps the last one, not very precise even if generous, to the advantage of Cristante who would position himself in line with Jorginho, thus making the indispensable Barella advance on the attacking midfield, together with Chiesa and Pellegrini, settle behind Scamacca.
A hypothesis that could be denied by the re-proposal of the same anti-Albania eleven, always within the framework of a 4-2-3-1 built on the defensive line made up of Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Calafiori and Dimarco ready to project the team forward wingman on the left, while his colleague De la Fuente will propose his 4-3-3.
The answer will be interesting. Al gives arithmetic promotion to the round of 16. Because Italy-Spain is valid.
