Roberto Mancini hasn’t had much to get flustered about during Euro 2020. A good thing too given any sign of inner turmoil would quickly be made apparent on the underarms of his elegant, stone grey coloured suit.
But the thought of an upcoming reunion with Roberto Martinez, his FA Cup final nemesis, might have resulted in Italy’s effortlessly cool manager getting a little hot under his pristinely ironed white collar.
Martinez was in charge of Wigan Athletic when they defeated Mancini’s Manchester City in the 2013 FA Cup final courtesy of Ben Watson’s 91st-minute winner – arguably the second-biggest shock in English football over the past decade, behind Leicester City’s title triumph in 2016.
That defeat signalled the end of Mancini’s three-and-a-half-year spell in Manchester in which the foundations of success in the Sheikh Mansour era were laid. The Italian led City to a first FA Cup title in 42 years in 2011 and far more significantly, added a first Premier League trophy to the club’s cabinet the following year.
Although not a final, tonight’s meeting between Mancini and Martinez has a similarly important feel to it, given it is the only quarter-final that pits two pre-tournament favourites up against one another. It also features two of the three teams in the competition that have won all four of their games, the other being England.
Italy swaggered their way through the group stage, making light work of a heavily-fancied but ultimately flawed Turkey team, before steamrolling Switzerland – a result more impressive in hindsight after their giant-killing antics against France. A patched-up side ensured a clean sweep in the final match with Wales.
It wasn’t until facing Austria in the last 16 that the Azzurri had to graft for their rewards, but they survived a couple of awkward moments to progress. The world’s top-ranked team Belgium are of course, an altogether different proposition to anything Italy have faced so far.
Mancini and his coaching staff will have spent the past few days plotting a containment strategy to keep the star of Inter Milan’s Serie A title win, Romelu Lukaku quiet. Only Cristiano Ronaldo outscored Lukaku in the Italian top-flight last season and he has maintained his purple patch at Euro 2020 with three goals.
Numerous plans will have been drawn up to cut off Lukaku’s supply line based on whether Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard both start, if one or the other does or if neither are involved, given the pair are injury doubts for the game in Munich.
And Mancini’s mind will no doubt have wandered to what kind of tactical mind games Martinez has in store given he previously outwitted him with a team that slipped into the Championship three days after that FA Cup final upset.
Nevertheless, the stars appear to be aligning for Italy. While De Bruyne and Hazard look set to run out of recovery time, the ageless warrior Giorgio Chiellini has won his fitness battle after missing out against Austria. PSG playmaker Marco Verratti has come through 157 minutes unscathed to strengthen an already formidable midfield.
Italy have played with a vibrancy and fluency that has largely eluded an ageing, weary-looking Belgium. Although the Belgian’s enjoyed the more impressive last 16 result, they were fortunate that Portugal had used up all their goals in the group stage after failing to score past Thibaut Courtois from 23 attempts.
Once more, Mancini finds himself leading the favourite, albeit by a much finer margin than last time. A win over Martinez would provide overdue redemption for that Wembley humiliation.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/367WJXY
Post a Comment