our correspondent to Dortmund
Luciano Spalletti praises the collective more than an individual after the first victory in this European Championship: «It’s a national team that can do without anyone, we have 26 strong players, it shouldn’t be said that the national team depends on one player. So many good things, we could have done things badly several times but instead we didn’t go in the direction of finishing the action as soon as possible.” The spirit of this national team is that of Nicolò Barella: «At the end I was a little tired but the days I was out didn’t help me. The boys made me feel important even when I wasn’t on the pitch, I will always spit blood for this national team. Deserved victory even if we could have scored more goals.”
The Inter player is the most valuable Italian player: 80 million is his market value, 6.5 million that he will receive per season after the renewal of his contract with Inter until 2029, becoming the highest paid Italian footballer who plays in Serie A. Yet his European Championship risked not even starting. It was the fault of that strain in the rectus femoris which was a consequence of the championship played at a slower pace in the last month given that the Nerazzurri had crossed the finish line of the Scudetto well in advance and had no other trophies to compete for. That scream after the right-footed goal (the 10th for Italy, overtaking Francesco Totti) which put our European Championship back on the right track after the shocking start smacks of liberation. Since he had arrived in Coverciano on May 31st, his march to arrive intact at the German rendezvous had been tiring and patient. Barella is the true leader of this Italy, a much more complete and mature player than the one in Euro 2021. He is no longer just the attacking midfielder, the running midfielder: today he participates in the maneuver as second director, at Inter he often joins Calhanoglu leaving Mkhitaryan to move forward. Losing the only Italian who entered the squad for the Ballon d’Or would have been the most serious problem for Italy. This is why Spalletti, at the time of the cuts after not even a week of work, preferred to keep him in the group. After all, he had another eight days to replace it. So he waited for him and the midfielder didn’t force the timing, he entrusted himself to the Italian doctors, working first in the gym, then gradually on the pitch until returning to the group three days after his debut at the Westfalenstadion against Albania.
In the meantime, Nicolò (it was June 6, the day of the coach’s final choices) became a father for the fourth time, a record for a 27-year-old boy. Who scored another goal at the European Championships, like in the quarter-finals three years ago against Belgium. And Italy hopes it doesn’t stop here…
