Silence reigned in Milan this afternoon, a gentle murmur emanating from usually bustling cafes. That might not seem abnormal: Sunday is always a day of rest in this most conspicuously Catholic of nations. But today, as any Italian can tell you, is not any old Sunday.
When they stride onto Wembley’s hallowed turf this evening, the Azzurri will have a chance to secure national redemption. And Italians, currently sheltering from the blazing sun, are holding their breath.
“I’m quite calm at the moment,” Daniele Conti, a 51-year-old fan from Milan, tells i. “But I know that tonight the nerves will be unbearable.”
Two-and-a-half-thousand fans will congregate in front of maxi-screens in Rome’s Piazza del Popolo and Fori Imperiali. Elsewhere, mayors, fearing a surge in the Delta variant cases, have banned gatherings in public spaces.
Bells will ring out across empty squares as fans gather in living rooms and in sweltering bars. “Like any good Italian I’m superstitious,” says Mr Conti. “I’ll be watching the game at home, as with all of Italy’s previous matches. It has worked so far.”
Roberto Mancini’s crusaders touched down in London on Saturday. Speaking in a press conference shortly after, Giorgio Chiellini, Italy’s grinning giant of a captain, said Italy would need “cool heads but warm hearts”.
In this David and Goliath battle, the stylishly technical Italians will try to tame England’s ferocious pace and power. “They are quicker than us,” Agostino Migliaccio, a 37-year-old Neapolitan, tells i. “We will need to get hold of the ball and slow the game down.”
Italy wants to forget its humiliating failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. After 18 months of on-and-off lockdowns, this famously-hedonistic nation is ready for a party. “If we win there will be fireworks in Naples. Flags will be flying and cars will be honking their horns,” Mr. Migliaccio said. “The processions could last long into the night.”
Last month, Prime Minister Mario Draghi controversially described Italy as a “secular state”. He was forgetting that football is now a national religion.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2TY33ii
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