Spain’s high hopes bar has reopened after two failures in a row. To manage it, coach Luis Enrique has put the eighteen-year-old Pedri, someone who seems to have been on the pitch for a lifetime and that behind the counter of the restaurant run by his father in Tenerife he has learned to overcome his shyness and to understand who is in front of him. Like this Spain, always the same yet so different «ready to die killing“As his coach, who has a bullfighter’s name, an undeniable charisma and a fidelity in his ideas that sometimes risks being blind, said:”The mistake we must not make – says Lucho – is not to be Spain. Then we can lose, win or draw, but I know my team will be true to our spirit. Against Italy it will be a battle for the conquest of the ball: we want it, we need it. But if we find a team that takes him away from us, then we have a plan B, Sure».
Il Corriere has created a special with matches, teams, protagonists and results in real time: browse all the news on the European Championships 2021
Having escaped the clash with France, eliminated by Switzerland then killed on penalties, the cyclist coach, marathon runner on the road, but also on the dirt and in the desert, awaits Italy chest out, ready to take the wind in his face, to reply with the ball between his feet: «It is getting more and more difficult. I think that Italy both a fun team, who play good football, hold the ball and know how to press both high and close to their own area. It is a difficult team to face, it will be a match to be played with intensity and passion ».
While Guardiola launches his blessing (“Luis Enrique is the real secret of Roja, he has courage and leadership”) Lucho finds Italy for the first time after Tassotti’s elbow at USA ’94 and after the Roman vintage, which ended with a seventh place, made up of misunderstandings, regrets and that strange feeling, summarized by De Rossi, today in the blue staff: «We thought he was crazy, but it is the coach who has changed me the most. If I think back to that we let him escape after ten months, I feel bad”.
He was the one who decided to leave, despite another year on his contract: «No rematch. I love everything about Italy, food, people, coffee, ice cream, football and Rome, where I had a wonderful experience, even if only for a year – says the former Real and Barça player today -. For me it is always a pleasure to play against Italy. Tassotti? It’s just a journalist thing, I’ve never talked about it with the players. I met him, there is no problem between us».
The important thing is to know who you are up against and Lucho is one who has never departed from his principles, not even when he was coaching Messi. After the Flea bench in San Sebastian in January, the magic trident was reborn with Suarez and Neymar who won everything in 2015, beating Juve in the Champions League final. That torrid evening in Berlin, Morata’s goal made the Blaugrana squadron and their coach waver for a few interminable minutes. Today Alvaro challenges his team classmates Bonucci, Chiellini and Chiesa, but also criticism, prejudice and even threats via social media.
The phrase “Morata plays plus 10 more” said by the coach after the uphill start of the center forward, he is one of the cornerstones of this Spanish European. But it is not the only one: “I don’t see teams that play better than us, we are at the top” and “It was the quietest session of my life” after the thrilling penalties against Switzerland, explain the exercise of faith just as well. and loyalty that Lucho is doing with his team: even the goalkeeper Simon had ended up in the storm for a sensational smooth and then it was decisive. L’vertical man, who has the “X” tattooed on his forearm in memory of his daughter Xana who died at 9 of cancer, has created a solid group more in the soul than in defense, for the first time without madridisti. A coincidence, but heavy, because «the outline of the Roja is very madridistaAs Xavi said. Everyone in this Spain has to prove something. And when that’s the case, there’s no middle ground. Or okay okay. Or bad bad.
July 5, 2021 (change July 5, 2021 | 23:35)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED