Nicolò Barella will hardly forget the last month and a half because events happened to him in his family and at work that filled him with joy. Above all, of course, the birth of his son Romeo, the first boy after three girls (Lavinia, Matilde and Rebecca), but also in football terms the Sardinian midfielder was able to smile. On 22 April he won the sixth derby in a row and the second star’s scudetto at Milan; on April 28th he was one of the absolute protagonists of the party on the open bus through the streets of the city and on the terrace of Piazza Duomo; on May 19th he raised the Scudetto trophy to the sky at San Siro, as vice captain; five days ago he renewed his contract until 2029 and became the highest paid Italian player in Serie A, while last night he scored the 2-1 goal, the decisive one for the success against Albania, on his debut in ‘European.
LUCIUS’ KISS TO THE… BOMBER
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At the end of the match at Signal Iduna Park, before the pitchside interviews, Spalletti hugged him and gave him a kiss on the head. Almost a “paternal” gesture of thanks (“Today he doubled himself” said the coach in the press conference with the intention of praising him) because Nicolò didn’t hold back this time either, despite not having trained for about ten days with his teammates because he is busy recovering from the injury to his right rectus femoris suffered in Coverciano. The Inter player never took into consideration the possibility of not taking the field against the Eagles and on Thursday he returned to the group, playing a couple of sessions together with the others. So he convinced the coach to place him alongside Jorginho. “Bare” responded in his own way, with a temperamental performance and the tenth goal of his adventure in blue: in the current squad of 26 no one has scored more than him. He also scored at Euro 2020 in the quarter against Belgium when he made it 1-0 and provided the assist for Insigne’s second. Are we missing an attacker capable of beating the goalkeeper consistently (let’s wait for Scamacca…)? Perhaps, but in the meantime we have had confirmation that the Inter player is a total player, one of those capable of making the difference not only by recovering the ball or managing it (yesterday he completed 105 passes and missed just 3!), but also by determining the result.
MENTALITY’
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What makes Barella an indispensable element for this national team is the winning mentality that he transmits to the team. When he played for the first time in Dortmund, in 2019, with Conte on the Inter bench, he had just arrived from Cagliari and had zero experience at a high level. “Apart from Godin – said the Lecce coach after the knockout – no one in our group has won anything. In matches there are also situations that are difficult to manage. Who do we ask? Barella, who we took from Cagliari? Sensi, who arrived from Sassuolo?”. Almost five years later, after having twice been included among the best 30 of the Ballon d’Or, the situation is totally different and Nicolò has become one of those who solve problems. As happened last night with that right-footed shot which allowed Italy to complete the comeback and which definitively dispelled the doubts about his physical condition. He had to wait for the OK from the VAR, but in the end he rejoiced and dedicated the goal to his newborn son. In the previous hours, his wife Federica had shown the photo of Romeo wearing the number 23 Nerazzurri shirt on social media. It’s difficult for Barella to forget a month and a half like this…
