2020 EURO CHAMPIONS
ITALIAN DEFENDING SCHOOL IS SHUT THE AZZURRI HAVE THE TALENT IN MIDFIELD AND ATTACK TO FOLLOW UP THEIR EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP TRIUMPH AT THE 2022 WORLD CUP, BUT SUSY CAMPANALE WORRIES THAT THE DEFENSIVE WELL IS RUNNING DRY
Federico Chiesa, Nicolo Barella and Gianluigi Donnarumma can inspire Italy for many years to come
I
t is fair to say that if UEFA Euro 2020 had gone ahead as planned last summer, then it might have been a little too early for this particular Italy side to thrive. Leonardo Spinazzola, Federico Chiesa and Manuel Locatelli were still too green, Domenico Berardi and Lorenzo Insigne hadn’t yet reached this level of maturity, while Jorginho and Nicolo Barella hadn’t experienced winning silverware at club level. Everything seemed to come together at the right moment for Roberto Mancini, including the fact he had an extra year to work with his squad, during which they accrued that record-breaking 34-match unbeaten run. The 2022 World Cup is another tournament that shakes up the usual football schedule, but while the Euros were simply put back by a year, this competition is shifted to November and December 2022. In this case, it’s not the pandemic prompting the change, but rather the spectacularly stupid idea of hosting the event in Qatar. That
Gianluigi Donnarumma
56 2020 EURO CHAMPIONS ITALY
‘IT MIGHT’VE BEEN A LITTLE TOO EARLY FOR THIS PARTICULAR ITALY SIDE TO THRIVE IF EURO 2020 HAD GONE AHEAD AS PLANNED LAST SUMMER’
