Italy will win the Euro 2020 final 2-1, a result which would mean football “coming home” to Italy, the country’s ambassador to the UK has said.
Raffaele Trombetta has predicted Italy’s victory, citing the country’s superior tournament record, and suggested football has developed better in the country.
The ambassador, who will be at Wembley for this evening’s final, told Times Radio that while football was invented by the English, “it’s coming home also if we win, because after all, you know, we have in our palmaris, as we say, four World Cups, already another European cup. So from this point of view, even if you started in England, maybe it has developed better in other countries, including mine”.
In an interview with Times Radio’s Tom Newton Dunn and Isabel Hardman, Mr Trombetta admitted the England team had some “very fast players” and praised Raheem Sterling as being “the best” in the squad.
He added: “He has been quite impressive I’d say all along the championship, all the different games that he has been playing.”
Mr Trombetta said while both the Euro finalists have been particularly affected by the pandemic, sport has offered a “boost” to morale.
“It is good to have some positive things, you know, to, to look forward to,” he said.
“Being in the final and the bubble of winning, then … is a boost of optimism, you know, to the country, which won’t last forever of course. It will last for a few weeks, for a few months. But it’s still a good thing to have.”
When asked about Covid-19 restrictions, Mr Trombetta was hopeful that British holidaymakers would be able to travel to Italy without the imposed five-day quarantine before the summer ends.
He said: “We’ll be following the situation in the UK and also in Italy. I do hope that at some point soon, we could lift some of those restrictions. But, at the moment, I don’t have a precise date for that.”
The situation in Italy was improving but “there is no room for complacency” and the country’s vaccination programme was progressing with 55 million doses already administered and 22 million people double-jabbed.
“The number of new cases is slightly increasing in the last few days but still in the region of 1,300, 1,400 cases. The number of deceased sadly, there are still people who are actually losing their life,” Mr Trombetta said.
Speaking to Trevor Phillips on Sky News, the Italian ambassador said: “It’s always important to win an important match. We have some experience there.
“Of course there is a lot of interest, expectation, celebration and excitement. We want to celebrate it with our English friends in England and in Italy.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3kedGYO
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